s 


p*^ 


GIFT  OF 
Prof.    E.J.Wickson 


LIBRARY-AGRICUUTURC 


. 

Li* 


Kwsiz 


SaSKS*. 


CLOVER  CULTURE 


BY     HENRY 


HOMESTEAD  COMPANT. 

Des  Moines,  Iowa. 


MAIN  UH 


ENTERED  ACCORDIN<;  TO  THE  ACT  OF  CONORKSS.  IN 

THE   YEAR  1892, 

BY  HENRY   WALLACE, 

IN   THE  OFFICE   OF    THE     LIBRARIAN    OF    CONGRESS,    AT 

WASHINGTON,  D.  (.'. 


PREFACE. 

The  scientific  facts  pertaining-  to  agriculture,  so  far  as 
they  have  been  discovered,  are  scattered  through  many  books 
and  other  publications,  comparatively  few  of  them  being-  ac- 
cessible to  the  ordinary  farmer ;  the  practical  experience  in 
the  application  of  these  facts,  so  far  as  known,  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  thousands  of  widely  scattered  farmers  and 
larg-ely  beyond  the  reach  of  the  public. 

It  has  occurred  to  us  that  we  might  do  some  service  to 
the  farmers  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  of  the  West, 
by  collating  as  many  as  possible  of  the  facts  that  are  accu- 
rately and  certainly  known,  and  the  experience  of  farmers  over 
as  wide  a  district  as  possible,  on  the  one  subject  of  "Clover 
Culture,"  and  presenting  them  to  the  public  in  compact  form, 
in  language  within  the  comprehension  of  every  farmer  and  at 
an  expense  within  the  means  of  every  man  who  grows  an 
acre  of  clover.  We  began  the  investigation  of  the  subject 
some  years  ago  with  the  sole  purpose  of  solving  the  difficulties 
encountered  in  obtaining  satisfactory  stands  of  clover  on  sev- 
eral hundred  acres  of  land  in  western  Iowa.  Discussion  of 
various  phases  of  the  subject  through  the  HOMESTEAD  has 
brought  us  hundreds  of  letters  from  farmers  in  many  states 
who  were  meeting  the  same  or  similar  difficulties,  and  the 
following  pages  are  the  condensed  results  of  our  study  of  the 
subject,  of  the  experience  of  our  correspondents,  of  our  own 
experience  and  our  observation  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

526702 


As  such  we  submit  it  to  the  thoughtful  reader. 

The  book  is  not  written  for  the  instruction  of  the  scien- 
tist, nor  is  it  intended  as  an  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject, but  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  practical  farmer  such 
information,  both  scientific  and  practical,  as  he  needs  on  the 
subject  under  consideration.  We  have  therefore,  wherever 
possible,  translated  scientific  terms  into  every-day  English 
and  have  aimed  to  put  the  fodder  in  the  rack  where  even  the 
lambs  can  reach  it.  Such  has  been  the  aim;  how  far  we  have 
succeeded  the  reader  must  be  the  judge. 

HENRY    WALLACE. 


THE  CLOVERS  AND  OTHER  GRASSES. 


CHAPTER  I. 


In  the  very  outset  of  our  investigation  of  the  subject  of  the 
clovers,  it  is  important  to  notice  the  distinction  between  these 
and  the  other  grasses.  While  in  popular  usage  we  apply  the 
term  grasses  to  all  kinds  of  herbage  that  is  summer  food  for 
the  lower  animals,  botanically  speaking  clover  is  not  a  grass. 
The  term  grass ..  pertains  to  plants  with  simple  leaves,  stems 
generally  jointed  and  tubular,  husks  or  chaff,  technichally 
called  glumes,  in  pairs  and  seeds  single.  A  slight  observa- 
tion will  show  that  the  clovers  do  not  belong  to  this  class. 
The  true  grasses  include  all  our  commonly  called  grasses,  the 
clovers  excepted,  and  besides  nearly  all  our  grains,  such  as 
wheat,  oats,  barley  and  corn  and  also  the  sorghums.  Clover 
belongs  to  the  Leguminosce,  or  Pulse  familiy,  and  to  the  same 
family  belong  peas,  beans,  and  vetches,  sanfoin,  lupines 
and  many  others  among  what  are  popularly  termed  grasses . 
It  includes  a  large  number  of  weeds  such  as  wild  indigo, 
wild  peas,  shoestring,  etc.,  also  a  large  number  of  shrubs 
such  as  the  Wisteria,  Carragana,  Robinia,  etc.,  and  forest  trees 
of  which  the  locusts  are  the  best  known  in  the  temperate 
zone  and  logwood  and  mahogany  in  the  torrid  zone.  There 
are  6500  known  species  of  Leguminos<z,  it  being  surpassed  by 
but  one  family,  that  of  the  Composite,  to  which  belong  the 
goldenrods,  asters  and  sunflowers,  and  in  the  wealth  of  its 
products  for  the  supply  of  human  wants  the  family  of  the 
Leguminosce  surpasses  all  others. 

The  Clovers  as  a  rule  differ  from  the  other  grasses  in  theii 
habit  of  root  growth.  Most  true  grasses  throw  out  their  roots 


i  J  i /    :  :  CVOVKR  CULTURE. 

horizontally,  and  while  these  often  reach  to  great  depths, 
much  further  than  those  who  have  not  particularly  investiga- 
ted the  matter  believe,  they  penetrate  to  these  depths  only  af- 
ter having  exhausted  the  fertility  of  the  surface,  and  then  in 
seoarate  rootlets,  while  the  cultivated  clovers  go  down  with 
along,  straight  tap-root,  some  of  them,  as  the  alfalfa,  reaching, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  to  a  depth  of  eight  or  ten  feet, 
and  sometimes  from  fifteen  to  twenty,  while  three  to  four  feet 
is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  depth  to  be  reached  by  the  or- 
dinary red  clover.  The  most  striking  difference  between  the 
clovers  and  the  other  grasses  is  in  their  power  to  increase  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  and  in  a  way  which  has,  until  recent  years, 
been  unaccountable  on  any  known  scientific  principles. 
This  power  is  now  believed  to  be  shared  by  the  entire  family 
of  plants  called  Leguminosce,  of  which  the  best  known  cul- 
tivated varieties  in  America  are  peas,  beans  and  the  clovers. 
This  mysterious  power  of  enriching  the  soil,  while  at  the 
same  time  taking  from  it  large  crops  of  the  highest  feeding 
value,  has  been  well  known  to  practical  farmers  ever  since 
agriculture  had  a  history,  and  no  doubt  for  a  long  time  before. 
We  find  Virgil,  for  example,  more  ttlian  a  century  before  the 
Christian  era,  singing  in  the  first  Georgic: 

"At  least,  where  vetches,  pulse  and  tares  have  stood, 

And  stalks  of  lupines  grew  (a  stubborn  wood) 
The  ensuing  season  in  return  may  bear 

The  bearded  product  of  the  golden  year. 
For  flax  and  oats  will  burn  the  tender  field 

And  sleeping  poppies  harmful  harvest  yield. n 

— Georgic  i st,  Dryderf  s  Trans. 

The  fact  that  good"  grain  crops  may  be  expected  after  a 
crop  of  Legumes  was  as  well  understood  in  those  far-off 
days  as  it  is  now,  and  it  is  only  in  very  recent  years  that  scien- 
tists have  been  able  to  offer  any  adequate  explanation.  Flax 
seems  to  have  had  as  bad  a  reputation  as  a  soil  robber  as  it 
has  now,  and  we  suspect  our  modern  wise  men  know  as  little 
of  the  real  reason  as  did  the  ancients.  We  find  Virgil  giving 
directions  as  to  sowing  the  legumes  in  the  following: 
'  uSow  beans  and  clover  on  the  rotten  soil, 

******* 

Vile  vetches  would  you  sow  and  lentils  lean, 
The  growth  of  Egypt,  or  the  kidney  bean, 

Begin  when  the  slow  Waggoner  descends, 
Nor  cease  your  sowing  till  midsummer  ends." 

—Ibid. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  £   : 

The  old  poet  had  some  notions  about  clover  as  food  for 
dairy  cows,  for  he  sings: 

ulf  milk  be  thy  design 
Bring  clover  grass. ' ' 

—Ibid. 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  well  known  to  all  students,  that 
the  revival  of  English  agriculture,  which  has  made  such  won- 
derful development  mall  lines  in  the  last  century,  wassyncyron- 
ous  with  the  introduction  of  clover  and  turnips,  the  clover 
enriching  the  soil  in  the  material  needed  for  the  production 
of  turnips,  and  the  turnips  furnishing  the  winter  feed  that 
has  enabled  Englishmen  to  bring  to  perfection  their  famous 
breeds  of  live  stock.  Nor  need  we  go  to  a  remote  age,  nor  to 
foreign  knds  to  notice  this  wonderful  distinction  between  the 
clovers  and  the  other  grasses. 

While  it  is  generally  conceded  among  intelligent  farmers 
that  exclusive  grain-growing  impoverishes  the  soil,  and  that 
grass  culture  must  be  resorted  to  in  order  to  restore  wastes  of  the 
soil  robber,  it  is  not  generally  known,  as  it  should  be,  that 
this  restoration  comes  almost  exclusively  through  the  medium 
of  the  clovers.  Hence,  we  find  that  wherever  farming  is  con- 
ducted on  scientific  principles,  clover  culture  assumes  a  posi- 
tion of  prime  importance.  At  first,  farmers  are  disposed  to 
believe  that  grasses  of  any  kind  add  to  the  fertility  of  the  soil. 
In  a  measure  this  is  true,  but  mainly  true  because  they  are 

frown  in  connection  with  some  of  the  varieties  of  clover.  The 
iscovery  that  the  recuperative  power  of  the  grasses  lies  al- 
most wholly  in  the  clovers  comes  to  some  farmers  as  a  very 
great  surprise,  and  often  in  connection  with  blasted  hopes. 
How  often  have  farmers  who  have  sown  their  lands  to  timo- 
thy exclusively,  and  after  mowing  two  or  three  years  and  then 
plowing  them  up  and  planting  them  to  corn, -been  grievously 
disappointed  in  the  results?  It  is  a  matter  of  common  obser- 
vation and  remark  that  while  timothy  alone  is  a  doubtful 
and  uncertain  crop,  when  sown  with  clover  it  yields  abund- 
antly and  nearly  as  much  timothy  is  grown  with  the  clover 
as  without  and  a  fine  crop  of  clover  besides.  The  next  year 
it  will  be  noticed  that  while  the  clover  is  said  to  be  "frozen 
out,"  but  really  dying  out  by  the  natural  limitation  of  its 
life,  the  timothy  grows  most  luxuriantly,  and  the  faith  of  the 
farmers  in  this  crop  revives.  The  common  explanation  that 
clover  keeps  the  land  moist  or  that  it  keeps  it  loose,  is  wide 
of  the  mark.  The  true  explanation  is  that  clover  feeds  the 
timo  thy  with  nitrogen  by  means  of  its  decaying  roots.  Farm- 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


ers  have  also  noticed  how  difficult  it  is  to  maintain  a  blue- 
.grass  sod  for  a  series  of  years,  unless  it  is  accompanied  by  white 
clover.  Blue  grass  maintains  its  selfish  monopolizing  policy 
for  a  year  or  two,  but  is  compell-ed  to  yield  sooner  or  later  to 
the  white  clover  and  the  two  ever  after  grow  together,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  blue  grass,  being  a  greedy  nitrogen  feed- 
er, and  always  nitrogen  hungry  after  the  natural  resources  of 
the  soil  have  been  exhausted,  is  compelled  to  depend  upon  the 
nitrogen  furnished  by  the  white  clover.  If  blue  grass  were 
nsed  as  a  meadow  grass,  and  the  entire  crop  taken  from  the 
soil,  it  would  be  clearly  seen  to  be  as  exhaustive  of  fertility  as 
is  timothy  or  grain  crops.  '  Every  farmer  understands  that 
all  kinds  of  grain  or  grass  crops  grow  more  luxuriantly 
when  planted  or  sown  with  clover  or  on  clover  sod.  This  fact 
points  out  the  clear  and  wide  distinction  between  the  clovers 
and  the  other  grasses.  All  other  grasses  outside  of  the  Le- 
guminosae,  the  principally  cultivated  classes  of  which  in  Amer- 
ica are  the  clovers,  are  great  nitrogen  feeders  and  always  ni- 
trogen hungry  and,  having  no  means  of  obtaining  nitrogen 
except  from  the  soil  itself,  are  dependent  either  upon  farm 
yard  or  artificial  manure  or  the  clovers  for  their  supply,  when 
once  the  virgin  fertility  of  the  soil  in  nitrogen  is  exahusted. 

The  most  vital  distinction,  then,  between  the  clovers  and 
the  other  grasses  is  this:  that  the  clovers,  togetherwith  other 
varieties  QiLeguminosae,  are  able  to  obtain  a  supply  of  nitro- 
gen, the  most  costly  element  of  fertility,  from  a  source 
quite  independent  of  the  stored  fertility  of  the  soil  or  of  ap- 
plied manure.  It  is  important  for  the  farmer  to  keep  this  dis- 
tinction in  mind  in  order  that  he  may  understand  not  only 
the  reason  why  the  cultivation  of  the  clovers  has  always  ac- 
companied the  introduction  of  improved  farming,  but  also  the 
bearing  which  their  cultivation  will  have  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  the  resources  of  the  West,  and  in  fact  of  the  entire 
Nation. 

The  sources  from  which  clover  obtains  nitrogen,  the 
relation  which  nitrogen  sustains  to  the  other  two  great  ele- 
ments of  fertility  in  the  soil,  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  and 
the  place  which  the  clovers  and  other  species  of  Lcguminosae 
occupy  of  necessity  in  any  cheap  and  practical  feeding  ration 
and  their  relation  to  the  improvement  of  live  stock  as  well  as 
to  the  production  of  grains  which  will  be  demanded  by  the 
rapidly  increasing  population  in  America,  will  be  discussed 
in  the  concluding  chapters  of  this  work.  It  is  enough  now 
to  point  out  the  facts  which  are  clearly  recognized  by  agricul- 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  7 

tural  students  and  which  have  in  the  last  few  years  been 
clearly  demonstrated  and  for  the  first  time  really  understood. 
Our  object  at  present  is  to  call  the  attention  of  our  readers  to 
the  wide  distinction  betwixt  the  clovers  and  the  other  grasses, 
and  to  point  out  the  fact  that  the  cultivation  of  some  variety 
of  the  Leguminosae  is  essential  to  any  great  improvement, 
either  in  grain  production,  the  production  of  live  stock  or  the 
conservation  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil . 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  CLOVERS, 


CHAPTER  II. 


If  the  statement  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  previous 
chapter  be  true  that  "the  cultivation  of  some  variety  of  the  Le- 
guminosa  is  essential  to  any  great  improvement,  either  in 
grain  production,  the  production  of  livestock  or  the  conserva- 
tion of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,"  then  the  distribution  of  the 
legumes,  and  especially  of  the  clovers,  becomes  a  question 
alike  of  great  scientific  and  practical  importance.  A  crop 
that  can  not  only  supply  itself  with  nitrogen,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent independently  of  the  nitrogen  of  the  soil,  but,  by  the  de- 
cay of  its  roots  and  haulm  supply  other  crops  with  nitrogen,. 
is  the  very  keystone  of  the  arch  of  successful  agriculture  where- 
ever  its  cultivation  is  possible. 

The  importance  of  the  subject  is  greatly  enhanced  when 
we  take  into  consideration  the  relation  it  sustains  to  the  fer- 
tility of  the  soil,  to  growing  crops  and  to  the  structure  of  all 
animals.  Nitrogen,  while  the  most  costly  and  an  absolutely 
essential  element  in  soil  fertility,  in  plant  growth  and  in  ani- 
mal life,  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  elements  in  all  nature. 
It  constitutes  about  four-fifths  of  the  atmosphere,  where  it 
seems  to  be  used  merely  to  dilute  the  oxygen.  It  enters 
into  no  chemical  combinations  with  it,  but  co-exists  simply 
as  a  mixture,  like  sand  in  sugar.  The  process  by  which  the 
free  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  is  transformed  into  the  ni- 
trogenous compounds  of  the  soil  has  long  been  a  puzzle  to 
scientists,  a  puzzle  all  the  more  complicated  and  difficult  of 
solution  because  it  has  been  held  until  quite  recently  by  all 
scientists  and  investigators  that  plants  can  not  appropriate 
free  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere.  It  is  a  striking  fact,  how- 
ever, that  all  the  sources  from  which  either  the  nitrogen  of 


CLOVER  CUI/TURS.  9 

commerce  or  that  which  enters  into  grain,  grasses  or  the  ani- 
mal forms  is  drawn  are  either  the  sedimentary  rocks,  the 
remains  of  animal  or  plant  life,  the  soil  in  which  plant  life 
flourishes,  or,  finally  the  atmosphere  itself.  The  sedimentary 
rocks  abound  in  animal  and  vegetable  remains,  and  the 
atmosphere  before  rains,  and  especially  after  protracted 
drouths,  contains  available  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  ammonia 
which  the  rains  bring  down.  It  is  evident  that  this  latter 
form  is  a  mere  exhalation  from  decaying  plant  or  animal  life 
on  earth,  a  supposition  rendered  still  more  evident  by  the 
fact  that  the  amount  of  ammonia  brought  down  by  the  rains  is 
greater  near  large  cities  where  decey  is  greater  than  it  is  in  agri- 
cultural districts.  Two  methods  alone  have  been  suggested  with 
any  show  of  proof,  by  which  the  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere 
may  be  transformed  into  the  nitrogenous  compounds  that 
make  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil — the  one  the  combination 
called  nitric  acid,  and  believed  to  be  a  result  of  power- 
ful electrical  action  in  the  air  during  thunderstorms,  and  the 
other  the  action  of  the  legumes  through  the  microbes  in  the 
tubercles  on  their  roots.  The  last  has  been  demonstrated  to 
be  a  fact,  but  the  exact  way  in  which  it  is  done  seems  to  be 
as  mysterious  as  ever.  May  it  not  be  (and  we  put  the  ques- 
tion merely  as  a  suggestion,  never  having  heard  it  advanced 
by  any  scientific  authority)  that  the  supply  of  nitrogen  for 
the  support,  of  the  -life  of  the  plant  or  animal  is  main- 
ly, if  not  wholly,  obtained  from  the  legumes  which  alone 
of  all  plant  life  have  been  clearly  demonstrated  to  have  the 
power  to  procure  it,  in  a  way  not  yet  explained,  from  the  free 
nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere? 

Speaking,  more  particularly  of  the  place  of  nitro- 
gen in  the  animal  economy,  it,  or  rather  the  albumi- 
noids, (the  form  in  which  the  nitrogen  is  appropri- 
ated by  the  animal),  forms  the  lean  meat  of 
all  animals,  much  of  the  blood,  the  white  and  yolk  of 
the  egg:,  and  is  in  fact  the  flesh-former  and  strength-giver  of 
the  animal  economy.  Potash,  lime  and  the  phospates  enter 
into  the  bony  structure,  and  to  some  extent  into  the  flesh. 
Carbon  is  the  main  element  of  the  fat,  but  without  the  albu- 
minoids there  can  be  no  muscular  formation,  and  hence  no 
.animal  life.  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  the  animal  can  receive 
nothing  into  its  organization  except  through  the  food  it  con- 
sumes, and  hence  the  flesh-forming  element  must  be  in  the 
plant,  the  grass,  the  grain,  or  new  milk  fed  to  the  young, 
and  in  the  proportion  adapted  to  the  age  of  the  animal— about 


10  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

one  of  nitrogen  to  four  of  carbo-hydrates  in  its  youth,  and  in 
decreasing  proportion  after  the  muscular  system  has  been 
built  up.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  great  problem 
of  feeding  lies  in  supplying  nitrogen  or  albuminoids  in  this 
proportion,  and  consequently  in  supplying  foods  which  in  their 
combination  have  this  proportion.  On  account  of  its  relative 
scarcity  to  the  elements  that  make,  up  bone,  or  that  keep  up 
heat,  it  is  always  the  most  costly,  and  hence  any  plant  or  any 
class  of  plants  that  can  draw  supplies  from  the  atmosphere  in- 
stead of  the  soil  becomes  invaluable  in  the  economy  of  the 
farm  and  the  economy  of  nature.  It  is  this  fact  that  makes 
the  distribution  of  the  Leguminosce,  and  especially  of  the 
clovers,  a  matter  of  such  great  importance  in  agriculture. 

The  Leguminosa  as  we  have  seen  constitutes  a  very 
large  class  of  plants  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  in  all  con- 
ditions of  soil  and  climate.  It  embraces  some  of  the  largest 
trees  of  the  forest,  especially  in  tropical  countries,  and,  in  the 
temperate  zone,  one  of  the  most  distinctive  varieties  is  that 
of  the  locust,  and  the  fact  that  the  Leguminosae  are  able  to 
procure  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere  explains  what  has 
doubtless  been  a  puzzle  to  many  readers,  why  grain  crops  can 
be  grown  close  to  a  locust  tree  while  they  refuse  to  grow  for 
rods  around  an  oak,  sugar  tree  or  a  walnut.  They  are  found 
in  all  wild  pastures,  both  in  the  shape  of  weeds  and  grasses. 
The  wild  indigo,  the  vetch  and  shoestring  may  .be  cited  as 
prairie  illustrations.  If,  as  we  have  suggested,  it  is  mainly 
through  the  Leguminosce  that  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  can  be 
appropriated  for  the  use  of  vegetable  life,  it  will  be  clearly 
seen  that  the  absence  of  the  legumes  would  make  plant  lite 
impossible.  Whether  this  be  true  or  whether  science  may 
yet  reveal  other  hidden  secrets  of  nature,  showing  that  she  is 
not  limited  to  this  class  of  plants,  it  is  but  reasonable  to  expect 
that  they  should  have  a  wide  distribution  in  every  soil  that 
is  at.  all  capable  of  supporting  plant  life.  Without  speaking- 
of  other  leguminous  plants,  such  as  peas,  beans,  vetches  and  lup- 
ines that  have  been  highly  prized  by  agriculturists  in  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  in  all  ages,  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  that 
there  are  in  America  more  than  forty  native  varieties  of  the 
clovers,  in  addition  to  those  introduced  since  the  settlement 
of  the  country,  and  that  among  these  are  species  apparently 
adapted  to  all  climates  and  to  all  varieties  of  soil\v  and  all  of 
them  noted  for  being  nitrogen  feeders  of  other  plants  and  re- 
storers of  the  wastes  created,  in  the  first  years  of  cultivation 
in  every  country,  by  the  soil  robber.  The  clovers  in  some  of 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  11 

their  varieties  seem  to  be  adapted  to  almost  every  soil  where 
the  plow  can  provide  the  means  of  human  existence.  Were 
nature  as  thoughtless  as  man,  some  portions  of  the  earth 
would  become  a  desert  waste.  She  is  ever  aiming  to  build 
up  and  restore,  and  much  of  the  skill  and  success  in  agricul- 
ture depends  upon  noting  carefully  her  processes  and  working 
with  her  instead  of  at  cross  purposes. 

As  an  example  of  this  we  might  note  the  fact  that  the, 
Japanese  clover,  (lespedeza  striatd)  sown  by  no  human  hand, 
spreads  over  the  abandoned  fields  of  the  South  and  restores  the 
wastes  of  the  cotton  planter,  the  robber  of  the  Southern  soils. 
The  Bur  clover,  (medtcago  deuticulata)  and  half  a  dozen  varie- 
ties of  trifolia  ,sown  by  the  hand  of  Nature  herself,  gives  rich- 
ness to  the  pastures  of  California  with  its  rainless  summers;  the 
alfalfa,  (medicago  saliva)  makes  the  desert  bloom  like  the  gar- 
den of  the  Lord  wherever  the  hand  of  man  furnishes  the  life- 
giving  water;  the  white  clover,  (trifolium  repens)  follows 
hard  after  the  soil  •  robber  of  the  prairies  and  kindly  binds  up 
the  broken-hearted  land;  the  alsike  camps  in  the  sloughs  and 
swales  and  along  the  bottoms,  providing  pasture  for  the  bees 
while  reclaiming  the  marshes;  the  white  sweet  'clover,  (mel- 
ilotus  alba),  and  the  Bokhara,  a  closely  related  variety,  take 
possession  of  the  highways;  the  crimson  clover,  (trifolium  in- 
carnatum),  nourishes  all  along  the  line  between  the  cotton 
lands  of  the  South  and  the  distinctively  corn  lands  of  the  North, 
while  the  medium  red  and  the  mammoth  (trifolium  pratense) 
pre-empt  the  carboniferous  and  calcareous  soils  wherever  there 
is  twenty  inches  of  rainfall,  mainly  in  the  growing  season. 
None  of  these  ever  take  a  foot-hold  in  the  soil  without  en- 
riching it  and  none  ever  fellowship  with  other  grasses  with- 
out increasing  their  luxuriance. 

As  this  work  is  intended  to  be  practical  rather  than  scien- 
tific, for  the  guide  of  the  farmer  and  not  the  instruction  of  the 
scientist,  dealing  in  scientific  facts  and  conclusions  only  in  so 
far  as  it  is  necessary  for  the  farmer  to  understand  them  in  or- 
der to  deal  intelligently  with  clovers,  we  discuss  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  clovers  only  in  so  far  as  it  interests  the  American 
farmer.  The  mammoth  and  common  red  have  a  very  wide 
distribution,  and  we  group  these  together  because  they  are 
not  different  species,  as  many  suppose,  but  merely  an  early 
and  late  variety  of  the  same  species.  This  distinction  is  im- 
portant, and  because  of  the  failure  to  note  it  carefully,  many 
farmers  have  been  led  into  serious  error  in  their  methods  of 
handling  mammoth,  otherwise  known  as  "pea- vine"  or  "sap- 


12  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

ling"  clover.  They  regard  the  red  as  a  species  that  produces 
two  crops  in  a  year,  and  seed  only  in  the  second  crop,  and  the 
mammoth  as  a  variety  that  produces  seed  in  the  first  crop  but 
furnishes  none  in  thesecond."  This  is  a  mistake.  The  common 
red  does  produce  seed  the  first  erop  wherever  it  has  an  opportu- 
nity of  insect  fertilization.  We  have  cut  on  our  own  farms  as 
much  as  three  bushels  of  seed  per  acre  from  the  first  crop  and 
from  a  thin  stand,  but  ordinarily  it  is  only  the  late  blooms 
that  become  fertilized.  This  is  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
bumble  bees,  and  to  the  fact  that  during  the  season  of  first 
blossoming  there  is  'an  abundance  of  preferred  bloom  which 
prevents  the  Italian  bees  from  visiting  the  clover. 
Farmers  have  abundant  proof  of  this  fact  when  they  cut  tim- 
othy for  seed,  in  which  they  find  more  or  less  clover  seed 
when  the  common  red  is  grown  with  timothy.  The  mam- 
moth would  yield  a  second  crop  if  the  season  were  long 
enough.  If  a  mixed  crop  of  mammoth  and  medium  red  is  cut 
by  the  I5th  of  June,  or  even  the  aoth,  and  the  season  is 
favorable,  many  plants  of  the  mammoth  will  ripen  seed, 
and  if  they  are  both  cut  by  the  loth  of  June,  a  crop  of  seed 
may  be  expected  from  both.  As  proof  of  this  we  cite  the  fact 
that  we  have  mown  a  meadow  of  mixed  varieties  for  ten  years 
and  the  mammoth  in  this  meadow  holds  its  own,  which  it 
could  not  do  were  it  not  annually  ripening  seeds.  '  It  has 
never,  except  on  one  occasion,  been  mowed  prior  to  the  4th 
of  July .  The  mammoth  is  simply  a  late-maturing  variety  oi 
tri/olium  pratense,  the  botanical  name  for  both,  its  season  oi 
growth  being  from  two  to  three  weeks  longer  for  the  crop 
than  that  of  the  medium  red.  This  distinction  will  be  more 
fully  pointed  out  when  we  come  to  discuss  the  best  methods 
of  the  management  of  each.  These  two  varieties  ol  the  trifo- 
lium  pratense  have  a  very  wide  distribution,  being  co-exten- 
sive with  the  limestone  and  calcareous  soils  over  the  entire 
continentv.limited  on  these  only  by  the  amount  of  rainfall. 
They  grow  luxuriantly  on  all  the  limestone  soils  of  the  East- 
ern and  Middle  states  and  refuse  to  grow  with  a  profitable 
luxuriance  wherever  the  rocks  are  deficient  in  the  mineral  ele- 
ments peculiar  to  these  soils.  They  reach  far  south  on  the 
Appalachian  range,  and  their  limitation  by  soil  formation  is 
most  striking  in  Tennessee:  They  grow  luxuriantly  in  Mid- 
dle and  East  Tennessee,  but  whenever  we  pass  west  of  the 
carboniferous  formations  into  West  Tennessee,  they  there  dis- 
appear or  fail  to  grow  in  desirable  luxuriance/  They  may 
be  found  in  North  Alabama  and  Georgia,  and  even  far  south. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  13 

wherever  the  peculiar  geological  formation  of  the  Appalachian 
range  appears,  and  they  disappear  with  this  formation. 

The  peculiar  composition  of  the  drift  soil  that  covers  the 
prairies  of  most  of  the  Western  states  gives  these  varieties  a 
very  wide  distribution.  It  is  well  known  that  most  of  these 
soils  are  not  made  in  situ;  in  other  words,  they  are  not  the  result 
of  decomposition  of  the  rocks  that  underlie  these  states,  al- 
though in  many  places  modified  by  them.  This  drift  is  the 
result  of  the  decomposition  of  rocks  far  distant  and  is  min- 
gled so  thoroughly  that  scarcely  any  section  may  be  found 
in  the  Western  states  in  which  there  is  not  abundance  of  car- 
boniferous or  calcareous  matter  to  develop  a  luxuriant  growth 
of  clover.  The  calcareous  soils  of  the  Missouri  Valley,  the 
deposit  of  the  calcareous  formations  of  the  Upper  Missouri, 
furnish  material  for  the  growth  of  clover  in  the  greatest  abun- 
dance. 

We  have  for  several  years  past  been  endeavoring  to  locate 
in  crude  outline  the  western  limit  of  the  medium  and  mam- 
moth clovers.  Without  coming  to  any  very  definite  conclu- 
sions and  leaving  the  matter  as  yet  undetermined,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  in  ordinary  seasons  these  varieties  may  be  grown  suc- 
cessfully on  fair  soils  as  far  west  as  the  longitude  96°  40  m.  west 
from  Greenwich,  and  in  favorable  seasons  there  is  practically 
no  western  limit;  in  other  words,  the  limit  is  determined  not 
by  the  structure  of  the  soil,  which  on  good  lands  is  favorable 
for  clover  everywhere,  but  by  the  rainfall.  Magnificent  ex- 
amples of  common  red  and  mammoth,  white  and  alsike  have 
been  sent  us  this  year  from  the  extreme  western  boundary  of 
Nebraska,  longitude  102 °3om.,  showing  conclusively  that  the 
soil  conditions  are  of  the  best  on  the  edge  of  what  is  known 
as  the  desert,  and  all  that  is  lacking  is  the  rainfall.  The 
northern  limit  of  the  growth  of  these  clovers  has  not  yet  been 
determined.  It  is  safe,  however,  to  say  that  the  reports  of 
the  destruction  of  these  crops  by  freezing  during  the  severe 
winters  in  many  cases  are  the  result  of  not  understanding  the 
nature  of  the  plant,  which  is  that  of  a  biennial  or  short  peren- 
nial and  when  used  as  a  hay  crop  would  naturally  disappear 
at  the  second  year  whether  the  winters  were  favorable  or  un- 
favorable. * 

The  white,  trifolium  repens^  has  even  a  wider  distribu- 
tion than  the  mammoth  and  common  red,  (trifolium  pratense), 

*  NOTE. — It  is  more  than  probable  that  under  the  name  of  common  red 
clover  we  have  several  varieties  of  trifolium,  some  of  which  are  biennials 
and  some  short  oerennials. 


14  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

being  able  to  grow  on  soils  on  which  the  larger  varieties  do 
not  succeed  and  to  grow  on  all  soils  in  which  they  do. 

Thealsike,  (trifolium  hybridum)  ,is  distributed  less  wide- 
ly, mainly  because  to  grow  a  profitable  crop  it  requires  a 
much  larger  amount  of  moisture  audit  is  especially  valuable  for 
wet  lands  where  none  of  the  other  varieties  succeed  so  well. 
It  takes  its  technical  name  from  the  mistaken  belief  of  the 
earlier  botanists  that  it  is  a  hybrid,  or  cross  between  the  red 
and  the  white.  This  has  long  since  been  ascertained  to  be  an 
error.  The  technical  name  is  further  objectionable  because 
the  term  "hybrid"  is  properly  applied  only  to  the  results  of 
those  violent  crosses  such  as  that  of  the  ass  and  the  horse,  of 
which  Nature  forbids  the  reproduction.  Alsike  is  preferred 
to  the  mammoth  or  common  red,  not  only  on  wet  sloughs, 
but  on  soils  where  it  is  believed  that  these  varieties  winter- 
kill. We  are  inclined  to  the  belief  that  its  preference  in 
northern  latitudes  is  due  not  so  much  to  any  peculiar  ability 
to  stand  extreme  cold,  but  to  the  fact  that  unlike  the  two 
former,  it  is  perennial,  and  hence  does  not  ordinarily  perish 
at  the  end  of  the  second  year.  The  illustrations  that  will  be 
furnished  when  we  come  to  discuss  the  best  methods  of  the 
cultivation  of  each  will  enable  the  reader  to  clearly  distin- 
guish these  different  varieties. 

Alfalfa  is  the  clover  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  semi-arid 
regions  and  to  the  arid  regions  where  irrigation  is  possible  It 
is  entirely  true  that  it  can  be  cultivated  on  any  good  corn 
lands,  that  are  not  underlaid  with  rock,  hardpan  or  heavy  clay, 
provided  it  is  protected  during  the  first  winter  in  northern 
latitudes,  but  when  thus  grown  is  much  inferior  to  the  mam- 
moth or  common  red  in  latitudes  where  these  can  be  grown 
profitably,  and  hence  its  cultivation  under  these  circumstances 
is  not  advisable.  It  is,  however,  to  be  preferred  to  any  other 
in  the  regions  of  deficient  rainfall,  or  where  the  rainfall,  how- 
ever abundant,  in  any  given  year,  can  not  be  depended  upon 
for  a  succession  of  years/  It  has  been  grown  very  successfully 
over  Central  and  Western  Kansas,  every  county  in  the  state 
but  three  reporting  more  or  less  alfalfa,  and  these  counties 
lying  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  state  where  red  clover  is 
so  pronounced  a  success  that  farmers  do  not  need  to  look  fur- 
ther. The  extreme  length  of  its  root  enables  it  to  go  down 
in  the  years  of  sufficient  rainfall  to  depths  where  it  is  in  a 
measure  independent  of  surface  moisture,  and  the  normal  dry- 
ness  of  the  climate  furnishes  the  condition  for  curing  it  into 
excellent  hay,  a  difficulty  that  is  almost  insuperable  in  sec- 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  15 

tions  of  the  country  which  enjoy  an  abundant  rainfall  in  the 
months  of  June  and  July.  It  is  therefore  in  the  semi-ar;d  re- 
gions the  best  of  all  substitutes  for  other  clovers. 

The  great  value  of  alfalfa  lies  in  its  adaptability  to  the 
arid  lands  of  the  mountains  and  the  plains  and  the  lands  that 
have  a  winter  rainfall  and  summer  drouth  as  on  the  Pacific 
Coast.  It  is  possible  under  these  circumstances  to  cut  three, 
four  and  even  five  crops  in  a  single  year,  irrigation  furnish- 
ing the  moisture  and  the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  making- 
the  curing  the  crop  entirely  practicable.  This  will  be  more 
fully  explained  when  we  come  to  discuss  the  proper  method 
of  handling  this  crop. 

Much  has  been  said  in  recent  years,  and  particularly  by 
the  Eastern  press,  of  the  value  of  crimson  clover,   trifolium  • 
incarnatum.     This,  unlike  those  previously  mentioned,  is  an 
annual  clover,   the  seed  being  sown  in  July  or  August  and  [ 
maturing  early  in  the  spring.     It  is  therefore  peculiarly  adap- 
ted to  the  soils  along  the  latitude  of  40  degrees  and  south, 
and  should  not  be  attempted  on  the  soils  of  the  corn  belt  of 
the  Northern  states.     Utterly  valueless  as  it  is  in  these  soils, 
it  is  of  very  great  value  in  its  peculiar  climate,   as  it  can  be 
sown  in  mid-summer,  and  removed  in  the  spring  in  time  for 
another  crop.     Its  value  as  a  forage  plant  is  much  inferior  to 
any  of  the  other  clovers,  and  it  is  therefore  adapted  only  for 
local  cultivation  in  soils  and  climates  specially  suitable  to  itsi, 
growth. 


THE  RED  AND  MAMMOTH~CLOVERS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  agricultural  subject  in  which  the 
farmers,  especially  of  the  Western  states,  are  more  deeply  in- 
terested than  the  cultivation  of  these  two  varieties  of  clover. 
In  taking  this  deep  interest  they  are  but  following  in  the 
wake  of  farmers  in  other  countries.  The  cultivation  of  these 
clovers  comes  in  everywhere,  apparently,  in  the  wake  of  the 
soil-robber.  After  lands  have  been  exhausted  of  their  virgin 
fertility,  their  owners  begin  to  enquire  how  the  lost  fertility 
can  be  restored,  and  no  means  has  yet  been  discovered  so  cer- 
tain and  reliable  as  the  cultivation  of  red  and  mammoth  clo- 
ver. The  Western  states  are  now  where  the  Eastern  states 
were  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  and  where  England  was  in  1633. 
In  Sir  Richard  Weston's  report  on  the  Husbandry  of  Brabant 
and  Flanders,  published  by  Hartlib  in  1645,  we  have  some 
interesting  statements  as  to  the  cultivation  of  clover  at  that 
time,  both  with  regard  to  its  object  and  methods,  from  which 
we  quote  as  follows: 

"It  thrives  best  when  you  sow  it  on  the  worst  and  barren - 
est  ground.  The  ground  has  to  be  pared  and  burned  and  un- 
slacked  lime  added  to  the  ashes.  It  is  next  to  be  plowed  and 
harrowed;  and  about  ten  pounds  of  clover  seed  must  be  sown 
to  the  acre  in  April  or  the  end  of  March.  If  it  is  intended  to 
preserve  seed  then  the  second  crop  must  be  let  stand  until  it 
come  to  a  full  and  dead  ripeness  and  it  will  yield  at  least  five 
bushels  per  acre.  Being  once  sown,  it  will  last  five  years; 
and  then  being  plowed  it  will  yield,  three  or  four  years  to- 
gether, rich  crops  of  wheat,  and  after  that  a  crop  of  oats,  with 
which  clover  is  to  be  sown  again.  It  is  in  itself  an  excellent 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  17 

The  cultivation  of  clover  seems  to  have  spread  as  rapidly 
in  England  as  it  has  in  the  Mississippi  states  of  America  in 
the  last  few  years,  for  in  less  than  twelve  years,  that  is,  before 
1655,  its  cultivation,  exactly  according  to  the  present  method, 
seems  to  have  been  well  known  in  England,  and  had  also 
made  its  way  to  Ireland.  The  little  change  that  has  been 
made  in  the  methods  of  cultivating  clover  in  that  country 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  those  early  farmers  had  hit  on 
about  the  right  method.  When  a  method  does  reasonably 
well,  there  is  no  inducement  to  change,  and  it  is  only  when  this 
method  fails  that  farmers  are  forced  to  a  more  profound  study 
of  the  principles  involved.  In  the  moist  climate  of  England 
and  of  Flanders,  and  in  the  comparatively  moist  climate  of  the 
Eastern  states,  surface-sown  clover,  and  especially  when  sown 
on  winter  wheat  or  rye,  in  the  months  of  February  or  Marchy 
did  reasonably  well,  but  when  it  was  tried  on  the  lighter  and 
drier  soils  of  the  West,  and  especially  on  spring  grains,  sown 
generally  in  April,  the  failures  in  securing  a  stand  became 
very  much  more  frequent.  Farmers  in  these  newer  coun- 
tries have,  therefore,  been  compelled  to  get  hold  of  the  great 
principles  that  underlie  the  growth  of  clover  in  any  and  all 
countries  and  apply  them  to  their  own  particular  circumstan- 
ces. Five  things  are  essential  to  plant  life:  A  soil  that  has 
all  the  elements  of  fertility  essential  to  the  life  of  that  plant; 
that  soil  in  a  proper  physical  and  mechanical  condition,  and 
in  addition  to  these  two,  light,  heat  and  moisture.  No  mat- 
ter how  fertile  the  soil,  or  how  abundant  may  be  the  elements 
of  fertility  especially  adapted  to  the  plant,  no  plant  will  even 
germinate  in  utter  darkness.  For  this  reason  clover  bedded; 
in  a  manure  heap,  with  every  element  of  fertility  needed  and 
with  abundance  of  moisture  and  heat,  will  not  germinate  ex- 
cept where  it  lies  near  the  surface  and  secures  the  proper  de- 
gree of  light.  No  matter  what  may  be  the  light,  moisture, 
or  fertility,  plants  will  not  germinate  at  zero  nor  where  the 
temperature  is  continually  below  the  point  of  freezing.  No 
matter  how  suitable  the  temperature,  the  sunshine  or  the  fer- 
tility, they  will  not  germinate  without  sufficient  moisture, 
and  no  matter  how  completely  all  these  elements  are  com- 
bined they  will  not  make  a  profitable  growth  unless  the  soil 
is  in  a  proper  mechanical  condition  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  the  plant.  It  is  only  by  the  proper  combination  of  all 
these  essentials  that  success  is  attained. 

Of  all  the  multitude  of  elements  that  enter  into  the  com- 
position of  the  clover  plant,  all  soils  have  an  inexhaustible 


18  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

quantity,  with  the  exception  of  three  or  perhaps  four.  These 
are  potash,  phosphoric  acid,  nitrogen  and  perhaps  lime.  It 
is,  however,  very  hard  to  find  a  soil  so  deficient  in  nitrogen 
that  it  will  not  grow  clover.  Clover  has  been  grown  in  ex- 
perimental pots  of  pure  sand,  from  which  every  element  of 
fertility  has  been  washed  out,  and  to  which  potash  and  phos- 
phoric acid  in  their  proper  proportions  have  been  added,  and 
the  only  difference  observable  between  their  yield  and  that  of 
similar  plots  rich  in  nitrogen,  as  well  as  the  other  elements,  is 
during  the  brief  period  when  the  nitrogen  in  the  seed  has 
been  exhausted  and  before  the  action  of  the  microbes  in  the 
nodules  or  tubercles  on  the  roots  has  been  fully  established. 
These  experiments,  of  which  we  shall  hereafter  have  much 
to  say  in  detail,  show  conclusively  that  clover  is  less  depend- 
ent on  the  nitrogen  in  the  soil  than  almost  any  other  plant, 
the  only  other  exceptions  in  fact  being  other  members  of  the 
leguminosae,  to  which  order,  as  we  have  before  said,  clover  be- 
longs. 

It  will  be  noticed  in  the  above  extract  from  Weston  that 
•clover  apparently  did  best  on  poor  soils,  a  fact  then  inexplica- 
ble but  which,  it  is  well  understood  now,  is  not  due  to  the 
poverty  of  the  soil,  but  to  its  ability  to  supply  itself  with  ni- 
trogen, of  which  these  soils  are  deficient,  from  the  great  source 
of  nitrogen,  the  atmosphere.  It  is,  therefore,  one  of  the  pecul- 
iarties  of  tfie  clovers  and  one  of  their  greatest  merits,  that 
they  are  less  particular  about  the  first  condition  of  plant  life, — 
the  fertility  of  the  soil — in  nitrogen,  than  any  other  true  grass- 
es or  grains.  It  is,  therefore,  almost  impossible  to  find  a  soil 
in  the  Western  states  so  far  deficient  in  nitrogen  that  it  will 
not  grow  clover,  and  it  is  almost  as  difficult  to  find  one  on  our 
drift  soils  so  far  deficient  in  phosphoric  acid,  lime  or  potash. 
The  question,  therefore,  as  to  whether  the  soil  is  rich  enough 
to  grow  red  and  mammoth  clover  may  as  well  be  dismissed. 

In  the  matter  of  the  mechanical  or  physical  condition  of  the 
soil,  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers  are  as  accommodating  as 
are  the  other  grasses.  None  of  them  require  the  garden  cul- 
ture demanded  by  most  grains.  They  go  on  reproducing 
themselves  in  the  pasture — where  the  plants  are  allowed  to  go 
to  seed — year  after  year,  and  thi  sself-seeding  in  the  meadow 
or  the  pasture  goes  on  successfully  where  careful  seeding  in 
the  well-tilled  field  often  fails.  In  fact,  we  have  often  seen 
clover  sown  on  the  wild  prairie,  when  pastured  closely  with 
cattle  or  sheep,  make  a  perfect  stand  while  it  almost  com- 
pletely failed  when  sown  on  spring  grain,  on  improved  land 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  19 

adjoining,  in  the  best  possible  condition  for  the  growth  of  the 
cereals.  Why  it  is,  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  speak  more 
particularly  of  the  conditions  of  light  and  moisture. 

Nor  is  there  any  difficulty  in  growing  these  clovers  on 
account  of  temperature.  The  season  attends  to  that.  The 
success  or  failure  in  growing  clover  depends  on  skill 
in  regulating  the  mechanical  condition  so  as  to  secure  light 
and  moisture. 

The  reader  may  learn  much  on  this  subject  by  examining 
the  germination  of  clover  seeds  in  an  old  stack  of  clover  hay 
in  May  and  June.  He  will  find  that  on  the  outside,  no  matter 
how  abundant  the  seed,  it  does  not  germinate,  for  the  reason 
that  while  it  has  light  and  heat,  it  has  no  moisture.  By  lift- 
ing up  the  edge  of  the  hay  he  will  find  that  a  certain  distance 
inward  it  germinates  freely,  but  beyond  that  a  certain  distance 
it  does  not  germinate  at  all,  simply  because  the  proper  com- 
bination of  light,  heat  and  moisture  is  not  present.  Success 
lies  in  getting  the  light  and  moisture  in  the  soil  in  the  combi- 
nation supplied  in  the  stack  at  the  point  where  the  germina- 
tion is  perfect.  Given,  then,  almost  any  kind  of  soil  that  will 
produce  a  moderate  crop  of  spring  grain  of  any  kind,  how 
shall  we  secure  a  stand  of  clover  that  will  hold  against  possible 
drouth  for  the  first  ninety  days?  This  is  the  point  to  be  con- 
sidered in  determining  the  very  first  question  in  growing 
these  clovers,*  the  depth  at  which  they  shall  be  covered. 
After  the  first  ninety  days  they  are  safe  against  anything  ex- 
cept the  extreme  drouths.  We  are  satisfied  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  failures  in  growing  clover,  about  which  we  hear  so 
much,  and  especially  on  the  lighter  soils  of  the  West,  depend 
upon  the  lack  of  proper  covering  in  order  to  secure  the  condi- 
tions requisite  for  vigorous  germination  and  the  support  of  the 
life  of  the  plant  during  the  first  three  months  of  its  existence. 
The  management  will,  of  course,  depend  upon  the  kind  of 
grain  crop  in  the  soil.  If  it  is  intended  to  grow  on  land  al- 
ready in  winter  wheat  and  rye,  the  custom  of  sowing  early  in 
March  can  not  well  be  improved.  No  matter  how  early  it 
may  be  sown,  it  will  not  germinate  until  the  season  gives  the 
right  temperature.  The  freezing  and  thawing  of  the  ground 
gradually  imbeds  the  seed  in  the  soil  and  growth  is  all  the 
quicker  because  of  the  shallowness  of  the  covering.  Begin- 
ning at  the  commencement  of  the  growing  season,  it  is  able 
to  strike  its  roots  deep  in  the  soil  and  to  stand  any  probable 
drouth  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  year.  Success  will  be  all  the 
mote  certain  if  the  nurse  crop  is  rye,  for  the  reason  that  the 


20  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

narrow  blades  of  the  rye  give  the  young  clover  plant  plenty  of 
air  and  sunshine.  There  are  few  soils  and  few  seasons  in  any 
country,  in  which  clover  growing  is  practicable,  in  which  a 
fine  stand  of  clover  can  not  be  obtained  by  sowing  on  rye 
in  March,  and  then  pasturing  off  the  crop  with  sheep,  hogs 
or  cattle. .  The' best  success  is  obtained  by  pasturing  with  the 
two  former,  and,  if  cattle  are  used,  the  lighter  they  are  the  bet- 
ter. Some  little  damage  will  be  done  the  clover  by  tramping 
with  heavy  cattle,  especially  in  wet  weather,  but  we  have  found 
by  experience  that  the  advantages  in  securing  the  more  per- 
fect covering  of  the  seed  by  treading  are  much  greater  than 
the  disadvantages.  Clover  sometimes  fails  of  a  stand  when 
sown  on  winter  wheat,  for  the  reason  that  a  crust  is  likely  to 
form  on  the  top,  especially  if  the  month  of  March  be  dry,  and 
the  ground  deficient  in  moisture  and  the  seeds  therefore  do 
not  become  sufficiently  imbedded.  This  may  be  remedied  to 
a  very  great  extent  by  harrowing  the  ground  after  the  clover 
has  been  sown.  In  this  way  sufficient  covering  can  be  se- 
cured and  the  benefits  to  the  wheat  will  far  more  than  com- 
pensate for  the  labor.  Success  would  be  all  the  more  certain 
if  in  a  dry  time  a  heavy  roller  were  used,  thus  compressing 
the  soil  around  the  roots  of  the  wheat  as  well  as  the  seeds  of 
the  clover.  It  requires,  however,  a  good  deal  of  sound  judg- 
ment and  discretion  to  use  the  roller  in  a  country  subject  to 
high  winds. 

When  sown  with  spring  grain,  the  problem  is  much  more 
difficult.  The  season  is  necessarily  later  and  care  must  be 
taken  at  all  hazards  to  bury  the  clover  deep  enough  to  secure 
moisture,  and  not  too  deep  to  exclude  light.  Just  how  deep 
clover  should  be  covered  is  a  problem  that  can  be  determined 
only  by  the  farmer  himself.  Everything  depends  upon  the 
season  and  upon  the  nature  of  the  soil.  The  lighter  the  soil 
and  the  drier  the  season  the  deeper  must  the  seed  be  covered. 
Untold  damage  has  been  done  to  the  clover  interests  of  the 
Western  states  by  the  publication  in  works  that  are  regarded 
as  standard  authority,  and  copied  into  the  agricultural  news- 
papers, of  the  depths  at  which  clover  germinates  best  and  re- 
fuses to  germinate.  Prof.  Flint  in  his  work  on  Grasses  and 
Forage  Plants,  quoting  from  a  treatise  on  grass  by  the  Messrs. 
Lawson,  the  noted  seedsmen  of  Edinburgh,  states  that  the  red 
clover  germinates  best  at  a  depth  of  from  nothing  to  one-half 
inch;  that  half  the  seeds  germinate  from  one  and  one-quarter 
to  one  and  one-half,  and  that  none  of  the  seeds  germinate 
when  covered  to  the  depth  of  two  inches.  This  is  no  doubt 


CLOVER*  CULTURF.  21 

true  for  the  climate  arid  soil  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent true  in  the  moister  climate  of  the  Eastern  states,  but  it 
is  entirely  misleading  and  false  on  the  light  soils  and  drier 
climate  of  the  West.  Acting  upon  this  advice  Western  farm- 
ers have  adopted  the  methods  of  surface  sowing  common  in 
Europe  and  in  the  Eastern  states  and  have  been  grievously 
disappointed.  Clover  sown  on  our  own  farms  by  this  method 
has  failed  to  germinate  the  first  year,  and  sometimes  the  sec- 
ond, coming  up  as  a  full  crop  in  the  third  year  where  the 
ground  has  been  undisturbed,  and  that  for  the  simple  reason 
that  the  supply  of  moisture  was  deficient,  for  the  lack  of  suf- 
ficient covering  in  dry  seasons.  The  clover  simply  waited 
until  there  was  sufficient  moisture  to  secure  germination. 
Mr.  Jethro  Tull,  an  English  gentleman  who  wrote  a  book  on 
Horse-Hoeing  Husbandry,  published  in  1731,  has  a  paragraph 
which  incidentally  refers  to  the  depth  of  covering,  which  is 
worth  quoting.  Speaking  of  his  experience  in  drilling  plants 
in  rows  for  the  purpose  of  using  the  horse-hoe,  he  says:  UI 
was  formerly  at  much  pains  and  at  some  charge  in  improving 
my  drills  in  planting  the  rows  at  very  near  distances  and  had 
brought  them  to  such  perfection  that  one  horse  would  draw 
a  drill  with  eleven  shares,  making  the  rows  at  three  and  one- 
half  inches  distant  from  one  another,  and  at  the  same  time 
sow  in  them  three  different  sorts  of  seeds  which  did  not  mix 
and  these,  too,  at  different  depths.  As  the  barley  rows  were 
seven  inches  asunder,  the  barley  lay  four  inches  deep.  A 
little  more  than  three  inches  above  that  in  the  same  channels 
was  clover;  betwixt  every  two  of  these  rows  was  a  row  of  san- 
foin  covered  one-half  inch  deep.  I  had  a  good  crop  of  barley 
the  first  year;  the  next  year  two  crops  of  broad  clover,  where 
that  was  sown;  and  where  hop  clover  was  sown,  a  mixed  crop 
of  that  and  sanfoin,  but  I  am  since,  by  experience,  so  fully 
convinced  of  the  folly  of  these  or  any  other  mixed  crops,  and 
more  especially  of  narrow  spaces,  that  I  have  demolished 
these  instruments  in  their  full  perfection,  as  a  vain  curiosity, 
the  drift  and  use  of  them  being  contrary  to  the  true  principles 
and  practice  of  horse  hoeing." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  even  in  the  moist  cli- 
mate of  England  clover  succeeded  well  when  covered  almost 
an  inch  deep,  and  the  practice  was  abundant,  not  on  account 
of  the  failure  to  grow  clover  but  because  the  narrow  spaces 
between  the  drills  of  the  different  seeds  did  not  allow  the 
practical  operation  of  the  horse-hoe.  In  view  of  the  import- 
ance of  this  question  at  the  present  time  in  the  Western 


22  CLOVER  ClILTURE. 

states,  we  requested  Prof.  Wilson,  of  the  Iowa  Experiment 
Station,  at  Ames,  Iowa,  to  determine  the  depth  at  which  clo- 
ver grew  best  in  the  light  soil  of  the  College  farm.  He  has 
kindly  furnished  us  the  results  of  this  experiment,  as  follows: 

uThe  College  Experiment  Station  sowed  red  clover  at 
different  depths  in  the  spring  of  1892,  to  ascertain  the  effect 
on  germination.  The  spring  was  late,  owing  to  repeated 
rains  that  prevented  seeding.  The  land  used  is  a  dark,  sandy 
loam  that  had  been  in  barley  the  previous  year,  and  had  been 
fall-plowed.  Plots  a  rod  square  were  used  and  the  seeding 
was  done  on  the  ninth  of  April.  A  plot  was  sowed  broadcast 
on  the  surface  and  raked  in.  A  plot  was  sown  in  drills  one 
inch  deep.  A  plot  was  sown  in  drills  two  inches  deep,  and 
one  three  inches  deep.  The  seed  sown  broadcast  was  above 
the  ground  and  a  good  stand  April  25th ;  that  sown  an  inch 
deep  was  also  a  good  stand  April  25th;  that  sown  two  inches 
deep  was  through  the  ground  only  partly  on  the  25th  of  April, 
while  that  sown  three  inches  deep  was  as  good  a  stand  as  any 
on  the  27th  of  April. 

The  season  was  favorable  to  germination  and  growth  of 
grass  seeds.  Rains  were  abundant  during  both  spring  and 
summer.  On  July  2Oth  the  four  different  plots  were  very 
similar,  being  about  eight  inches  high  and  ready  to  cut  for 
hay.  That  sown  three  inches  deep  was  the  most  vigorous  of 
any.  The  plots  were  hoed  between  the  rows  and  kept  free 
from  weeds.  Several  other  grasses  were  sown  simultaneously 
with  the  clover  that  showed  quite  different  results,  but  depth 
of  sowing  in  this  case  raises  no  decisive  objection  to  any  of 
the  depths  at  which  the  seeds  were  sown. 

It  may  be  well  to  state. that  the  soil  used  is  entirely  free 
from  any  trace  of  clay,  consequently  it  does  not  pack  as  much 
as  some  lands  in  the  state,  while  it  is  not  as  loose  a  soil  as  the 
bluff  deposit  of  the  Missouri  slope.  Repeated  experiments 
must  be  made  to  determine  the  effect  of  different  depths  of 
sowing  in  dry  seasons.  The  indications  so  far,  with  the  wet- 
test season  for  some  years,  are  that  clover  seed  germinates  as 
promptly  at  a  depth  of  three  inches  as  at  a  depth  of  one  inch 
where  the  frost  is  out  of  the  ground  and  the  temperature  is 
the  same,  and  further,  that  there  is  no  evident  weakening  of 
the  young  plants  when  the  seed  is  sown  three  inches  deep. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  foregoing  it  may  be  observed 
that  the  station  sowed  peas  from  three  to  five  inches  deep, 
and  while  the  latter  sowing  was  longer  in  coming  up,  yet  at 


CIvOVKR  CULTURE.  23 

this  writing,  July  i5th,  there  is  no  apparent  difference  in  the 
vigor  of  the  sowings." 

For  two  years  past  we  have  called  attention  of  the  farm- 
ers of  the  West  through  the  Homestead 'to  this  important  mat- 
ter, and  their  experience  as  reported  from  time  to  time  largely 
pletely  verifies  the  results  of  the  experiment  above  quoted. 
The  most  successful  clover  growers  in  the  West,  and  especial- 
ly in  the  light  soils  of  the  Missouri  valley,  sow  their  clover 
with  their  spring  grain  and  give  it  the  same  depth  of  cover- 
ing. The  almost  universal  custom  is  to  cover  either  with  the 
ordinary  corn  cultivator  or  with  the  disc  cultivator,  which  in 
farm  practice  would  give  clover  a  covering  of  from  one-fourth 
of  an  inch  to  two  inches.  The  results  of  their  experience, 
however,  are  not  uniform,  the  failures  being  the  exception, 
and  success  the  rule.  As  an  example  of  the  very  rare  excep- 
tions we  give  the  following  from  Mr.  George  Geary,  of  Win- 
terset,  Iowa.  In  response  to  a  letter  of  inquiry  Mr.  Geary 
writes: 

4 'In  the  spring  of  1892  I  sowed  a  field  to  clover  about  ten 
days  before  sowing  the  oats.  The  oats  were  sown  about  the 
3rd  or  4th  of  April.  It  was  disced  twice,  after  the  oats  were 
sown  and  then  harrowed  twice.  I  can  not  tell  how  deep  it 
was  covered.  The  oats,  however,  all  grew  and  none  of  the 
clover  except  at  the  head-lands,  which  were  not  so  well  culti- 
vated, where  a  few  plants  appeared.  On  the  head-lands  the 
clover  was  not  sown  until  after  the  discing  was  done.  It  was 
then  harrowed  and  floated.  After  giving  the  matter  full  con- 
sideration I  think  the  trouble  was  not  in  the  deep  covering, 
but  because  the  clover  sod  had  sprouted  before  the  ground 
was  cultivated,  and  this  cultivation  destroyed  it.  If  this  were 
not  the  case,  some  of  it  would  have  grown,  no  matter  how 
deeply  it  was  covered." 

It  is  therefore  extremely  doubtful  whether  even  in  this 
case  the  failure  of  the  stand  in  this  field  was  due  to  the  deep 
covering  or  to  the  fact  that  the  clover  had  sprouted  and  was 
then  destroyed  by  the  tillage.  It  should  be  stated  in  this  con- 
nection that  many  farmers  who  harrow  in  clover  in  corn 
stalks  sow  the  clover  seed  a  week  or  two  in  advance,  and 
where  the.  covering  is  not  so  deep  as  that  practiced  by  Mr. 
Geary  they  have  had  good  success.  The  advantage  in  sow- 
ing in  advance  is  that  it  gives  the  clover  time  to  take  up 
moisture  and  swell  and  secures  a  quicker  germination  than 
when  sowed  with  the  oats  or  spring  grain.  In  case  bf  dry 
weather  at  the  time  of  cultivation,  it  might  prove  hazardous. 


24  CLOVER  CULTURE 

Mr.  Geary's  farm  lies  on  the  edge  of  the  timber  and  is, 
•therefore,  a  muck  heavier  soil  than  the  prairie  lands  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity.  Besides,  it  rests  on  a  very  heavy  bed  of 
limestone,  abd  the  conditions  of  that  farm  are  somewhat  simi- 
lar to  the  conditions  on  the  heavy  clay  soils  of  the  Eastern 
states.  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  deep  covering  does 
not  always  succeed  on  that  or  like  conditions  even  in  the 
West.  All  this  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  each  farmer,  no 
matter  where  his  location  may  be,  determining  by  actual  ex- 
periment on  his  own  farm  the  depth  at  which  clover  seed 
germinates  best  in  an  ordinary  season.  This  will  vary  with 
the  normal  amount  of  rainfall  in  the  spring  months  and  the 
mechanical  condition  and  character  of  the  soil.  The  lighter 
the  soil  the  deeper  should  clover  be  covered,  and  there  are 
many  parts  of  the  West  in  which  it  should  not  be  placed  at 
less  than  two  inches. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in  discussing  the  depths  of 
covering  at  which  clover  does  best,  we  are  speaking  solely 
with  reference  to  land  in  cultivation  in  small  grain,  and 
not  with  reference  to  land  in  other  grasses,  whether  wild  or 
tame.  A  moment's  reflection  will  convince  anyone  that  deep- 
er covering  is  required  in  soil  in  condition  for  the  reception 
of  small  grains  than  in  soil  that  is  already  compacted  by  the 
weather.  For  this  reason  clover  requires  a  much  shallower 
covering  when  sown  on  winter  wheat  or  rye  than  when  sown 
on  newly  cultivated  land,  on  which  spring  grain  has  been  sown. 

We  have  devoted  much  space  to  the  depth  at  which  red 
and  mammoth  clover  should  be  covered  when  sown  with  spring 
grain,  for  the  reason  that  the  proper  depth  of  covering  is  one 
of  the  first  conditions  of  success,  and  we  are  persuaded  that 
most  failures  in  growing  these  clovers  have  been  due  to  the 
fact  that  farmers  have  not  fully  comprehended  the  first  prin- 
'ciples,  and  thus  have  failed  to  apply  them  to  their  particular 
conditions  and  circumstances. 

Whether  common  red  or  mammoth  clover  should  be 
selected  for  sowing  depends  altogether  upon  the  rotation  of 
crops  that  he  has  adopted  and  the  objects  for  which  the  clover 
is  grown.  On  good,  rich  land,  where  a  crop  of  hay  is  desired, 
and  where  fall  pasture  is  an  important  consideration,  the  com- 
mon red  is  to  be  preferred.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  regions 
where  there  are  no  insect  enemies,  such  as  the  clover-root  worm, 
the  clover  midge,  the  thrips  or  the  clover  hay  worm.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  these  pests,  if  it  is  desirable  to  secure  a  crop  of  clover 
hay  and  the  question  of  seed  is  less  important  than  an  abun- 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  25 

dant  aftermath,  we  advise  in  every  case  to  select  the  common 
red,  as  there  are  probably  two  or  three  varieties,  different  in 
the  color  of  the  blossom,  in  size  and  in  maturity,  and  it  would 
not  be  difficult  by  selection  to  develop  a  variety  with  pure, 
white  blossoms,  another  with  deep  red  arid  still  others  with 
minor  shades,  and  with  essential  differences  in  growth  and 
in  the  time  of  maturity.  Possibly  in  the  near  future  this  may 
be  done.  These  differences  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
mammoth  was  the  original  type,  and  that  the  different  varie- 
ties of  common  red  are  simply  variations  from  this  type,  the 
effect  of  soil  and  climate,  or  in  other  words,  of  environment. 

As  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  we  regard  the  mammoth 
simply  as  a  late-maturing  variety  of  the  red,  and  not  a  differ- 
ent species.  The  differences  between  them  were  regarded  by 
Linnaeus  as  sufficient  to  justify  a  different  classification,  and 
he  styled  the  common  red,  trifolium  pratense  and  the  mam- 
moth trifolium  medium.  According  to  Prof.  W.  J.  Beal,  of  the 
Chair  of  Botany  in  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  in  his 
standard  work  on  the  grasses,  page  346,  the  two  species 
freely  cross,  and  show  all  grades  of  intermediate  forms. 
This  would  indicate  that  the  distinctions  are  not  so  great  as 
to  justify  the  earlier  classification;  We  have,  therefore,  in 
this  work,  where  minute  scientific  accuracy  is  not  the  aim  ex- 
cept in  so  far  as  it  seems  essential  to  the  practical  guidance  of 
the  farmer,  treated  them  as  different  forms  of  one  species, 
without  presuming  to  settle  the  question  as  to  whether  the 
distinction  heretofore  made  is  scientifically  correct  or  not. 
The  original  differences  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  illus- 
trations on  pages  28  and  29,  as  taken  from  Sudlow.  It 
might,  however,  be  somewhat  difficult  to  find  in  any  field  o 
mixed  Mammoth  and  common  red  clover  two  plants  that  vary 
quite  as  widely  as  the  two  illustrations. 

On  tarms  where  the  main  object  in  growing  clover  is  to> 
increase  fertility,  where  it  is  not  essential  to  secure  a  crop  of 
hay  from  every  seeding  of  clover,  and  where  it  is  desired  to 
procure  a  reasonably  certain  crop  of  seed  as  a  money  crop,  the 
mammoth  should  be  preferred.  The  mammoth  may  also  be 
used  with  advantage  on  thin  soils,  and  especially  at  their  first 
deeding,  for  the  reason  that  on  these  soils  it  does  not  develop, 
to  the  same  extent  at  least,  the  objection  that  is  urged  against 
it  where  on  ordinary  soils  a  hay  crop  is  to  be  secured.  This 
objection  is  that  it  grows  so  rank  and  lodges  so  early  that  the 
lower  foot  or  eighteen  inches  of  the  stock  becomes  black  and 
entirely  void  of  leaves  and  that  the  stalk  is  so  coarse  that  it 


26  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

is  difficult  to  cure  and  is  largely  rejected  by  live  stock.  These 
objections  do  not  apply  where  it  is  not  desirable  to  secure  a 
hay  crop.  Many  farmers  are  so  situated  that  they  prefer  to 
grow  both  in  separate  fields,  the  medium  red  for  hay,  after- 
math and  fertility,  and  the  mammoth  for  securing  with  rea- 
sonable certainty  a  crop  of  seed.  In  this  case  they  sow  timothy 
with  the  mammoth  and  cut  the  first  crop  for  seed,  sometimes 
mowing  or  pasturing  it  off  until  the  first  weeks  of  June  for  the 
purpose  of  getting  rid  of  the  lower  foot  of  the  stalk  and  also 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  more  abundant  stooling.  A  crop 
of  seed  is  then  taken  about  the  ist  of  September  and  the  after- 
math of  timothy  and  clover  is  allowed  to  grow  for  the  pur- 
pose ot  pasture.  About  two-thirds  of  the  stalks  of  the  mam- 
moth clover  die  out  the  year  after  sowing,  and  the  result  is 
usually  a  very  heavy  crop  the  next  year,  about  two-thirds 
timothy  and  one-third  clover.  The  clover  being  at  its  best 
at  the  same  time  as  the  timothy,  the  crop  of  hay  resulting  is 
of  a  very  fine  quality,  and  comes  in  at  a  time  when  the  best 
conditions  are  usually  present  for  curing  it  in  its  best  estate. 
It  is  very  important,  however,  when  growing  timothy  for 
seed  to  secure  seed  free  from  admixture  with  the  common 
red  and  to  sow  it  on  soil  not  self-seeded  with  the  latter 
variety. 

In  sections  of  the  country  where  the  insect  enemies  of 
clover  are  abundant  it  is  advisable  to  discontinue  the  growth 
of  common  red  for  a  time  and-  take  the  mammoth  in  prefer- 
ence, with  all  its  disadvantages.  All  the  insect  pests  with 
which  we  are  acquainted  that  infest  the  blossoms  of  clover, 
produce  two  broods  in  the  season,  the  first  at  the  time  of  the 
first  bloom  of  red  clover,  and  the  second  at  the  time  of  the  sec- 
ond bloom.  By  using  the  mammoth  the  fly  of  these  pests 
has  no  opportunity  to  deposit  its  eggs,  and  hence  no  second 
crop  is  possible  on  that  field.  This  is  likely  to  be  a  very  im- 
portant consideration  in  the  West  when  the  growth  of  clover 
is  fully  established. 

While  the  mammoth  is  far  inferior  to  the  medium  red  as 
a  hay  crop,  and  therefore  we  do  not  advise  its  cultivation 
where  a  hay  crop  is  the  main  object,  it  has  very  important  ad- 
vantages to  the  farmer  who  has  exhausted  the  fertility  of  hist 
land  by  long  years  of  cultivation  in  wheat,  corn,  oats  vrflax, 
and  who  is  not  in  shape  either  to  buy  live  stock  or  to  provide 
the  shelter  necessary  to  keep  them  at  a  profit.  In  such  cases 
as  this  we  advise  the  sowing  of  mammoth  clover  with  every 
crop  of  spring  grain,  even  though  it  be  the  intention  to  plow 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  27 

it  up  the  succeeding  yea-r.  The  seed  crop  of  mammoth  clo- 
ver is  about  as  certain  as  any  other  farm  crop,  while  the  seed 
crop  of  the  common  red  is  one  of  the  most  precarious  of  crops, 
unless  the  first  cutting  be  made  at  the  right  time.  It  is  rea- 
sonably certain  when  the  first  crop  is  cut  the  last  ten  days  of 
June.  Under  Western  conditions  this  is  not  always,  nor  in- 
deed usually,  possible.  It  is  also  liable  to  be  greatly  injured 
by  an  early  frost. 

These  objections  do  not  apply  to  the  mammoth  which 
matures  its  seed  crop  about  the  ist  of  September  in  the  lati- 
tude of  Central  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  and,  owing  to  the  high 
temperature  of  the  season,  can  be  cured  rapidly  and  threshed 
easily.  The  yield  is  from  two  to  six  bushels  per  acre,  which 
at  present  prices  is  equal  as  a  cash  crop  to  any  other.  The 
farmer,  therefore,  can  by  the  use  of  mammoth  clover  restore 
the  fertility  of  the  soil  for  the  time  being  without  incurring 
the  expense  of  investing  in  cattle,  fences  or  barns,  and  to  him 
it  is  invaluable.  Where  the  object  is  pasturage,  we  would 
prefer  sowing  mixed  seed  in  about  equal  proportions  for  the 
obvious  reason  that,  plants  being  at  their  best  about  the  period 
of  bloom,  the  season  of  continuous  bloom  is  prolonged,  mam- 
moth clover  coming  in  bloom  two  or  three  weeks  later 
than  thercommon  red.  By  using  this  method  there  can  be  a 
constant  succession  of  clover  bloom  from  May  until  frost. 
Keeping  in  mind  these  two  peculiarities  of  the  two  different 
varieties,  the  reader  will  be  able  to  determine  for  himself 
which  is  best  adapted  to  the  soil,  climate  and  the  character 
of  his  farm  operations. 

The  question  of  the  amount  of  seed  per  acre  whether 
alone  or  mixed  with  each  other,  or  with  other  grass  seeds  and 
the  best  method  of  sowing  will  be  discussed  fully  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter. 


28 


CLOVER  CULTURE, 


COMMON  JRED  CLOVER.     (Trlfolium  pretense.} 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


MAMMOTH  CLOVER.     ( 7 ri folium    medium. } 


ALFALFA, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

While  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers  are  justly  regarded 
a»s  the  sheet  anchor  of  the  farmer  in  the  sections  of  country  to 
which  they  are  adapted,  there  is  a  point  westward  where, 
by  reason  of  deficient  rainfall,  their  cultivation  ceases  to  be 
practicable  or  profitable.  There  is  also  a  southern  limit  be- 
yond which,  by  reason  of  the  deficiency  of  lime  in  the  soil  and 
of  the  long  continued  summer  heat,  they  cease  to  be  reliable. 
We  have  before  noted — so  important  does  she  seem  to  consider 
the  clover  family  to  the  welfare  of  the  race — that  Nature 
provides  some  member  of  the  family  to  meet  the  wants 
of  almost  every  soil  and  climate  adapted  to  either  tillage  or 
pasturage.  This  want  is  met  to  a  very  great  extent,  on  the  Paci- 
fic coast  of  America,  in  the  mountain  valleys,  on  the  great 
plaius,  and  on  the  Southern  and  along  the  Eastern  Atlantic 
coasts  round  to  where  it  meets  the  red  clover,  by  the  alfalfa. 
While  not  belonging  to  the  same  species  as  the  ordinary  clo- 
vers, it  has  the  same  general  characteristics  and  economic 
values.  It  has  the  same  three-cleft  leaf  and  characteristic 
pea  blossom,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  illustration  on  the  follow- 
ing page,  the  same  power  of  assimilating  nitrogen  from  the 
atmosphere,  an  even  higher  ratio  of  albuminoids  to  carbo- 
hydrates and  therefore  a  similar  feeding  value.  It  is  not  a 
trifolium  but  a  medicago  and  belongs  to  the  same  class  as  the 
bur  clover  of  Calitornia  and  the  western  plains. 

In  its  origin  it  antedates  history.  It  has  been  traced 
back  to  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  Media  and  Persia  and  we 
have  no  doubt  that  when  Nebuchednezzar  was  testing  the 
value  on  Daniel  and  his  companions  of  the  legumes  or  "pulse," 
as  food  for  young  statesmen,  alfalfa  was  growing  luxuriantly  on 
the  royal  farms  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers  of  Babylon.  It  was 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


31 


ALFALFA.      (Medicago  saliva.} 


32  CLOVER  CUL/TUKJi,. 

brought  to  Greece  during  the  Persian  war  about  470  B.  C.f 
thence  to  Italy; and  it  naturally  followed  the  march  of  the  all-- 
conquering legions  to  France,  Spain  and  Portugal.  The 
Spaniards  brought  it  with  them  to  the  new  world  and  it  soon 
became  established  along  the  La  Plata  and  in  Chili  in  South 
America,  whence  it  was  brought  to  California.  Its  very  great 
value  under  irrigation  having  been  recognized,  it  soon  be* 
came  established  in  the  mountain  valleys  and  on  the  plains. 
Of  late  years  farmers  are  beginning  to  recognize  its  value  as  a 
substitute  for  clover  on  lands  that  are  not  susceptible  of  ir- 
rigation, and  now  it  may  almost  be  regarded  as  a  maxim  that 
where  clover  ends  alfalfa  begins,  limited  only  in  the  practical 
application  of  the  maxim  to  soils  that  have  a  sub-soil  suit- 
able for  alfalfa.  . 

Alfalfa  has  travelled  under  various  names.  While  its  bo- 
tanical name  \smedicagosativa  it  is  knownin  European  coun- 
tries as  ulucerne,"  from  the  city  of  Lucerne,  in  Switzerland,, 
where  it  is  largely  cultivated.  The  Spaniard  named  it  alfalfa,, 
a  name  said  to  be  of  Arabic  origin  and  this  name  has  natur- 
ally followed  the  plant  to  the  new  world.  It  has  some  strik- 
ing peculiarities,  one  that  its  stalk  is  very  small  in  proportion 
to  its  root,  the  former  growing  under  favorable  conditions 
about  two  feet  in  length,  the  latter  measured  only  by  the  dis- 
tance to  water.  It  may  be  anything  from  five  feet  to  twenty 
feet. 

It  has  been  used  for  so  many  ages  for  the  specific  purpose 
of  a  meadow  and  forage  plant  that  it  does  not  adapt  itself 
readily  to  pasturage,  and  in  order  to  secure  the  best  results,  re- 
quires to  be  cut  as  a  hay  crop  whether  it  be  long  or  short,, 
about  the  time  one  fourth  of  the  flowers  are  in  bloom,  other- 
wise the  stalk  becomes  woody  and  the  value  is  very  greatly- 
reduced.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  a  grass  cut  with  such 
an  excess  of  sap  is  difficult  to  cure  in  a  climate  of  great  sum- 
mer rainfall,  and  for  this  and  many  other  reasons  is  not  adapt- 
ed to  the  soil  and  climate  where  clovers  can  be  grown  success- 
fully. This  difficulty  of  curing  the  hay  is  not  the  only  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  its  adoption  by  farmers  who  can  grow  the 
other  clovers  to  perfection.  It  must  have  room  to  stretch 
out  its  roots  and  hence  will  not  succeed  on  lands  where  the 
moisture  is  near  the  surface,  for  the  same  reason  it  will  not 
succeed  on  lands  that  have  a  subsoil  of  heavy,  impervious 
clay  or  are  underlaid  with  rock.  Requiring  several  years  to 
attain  its  maxim  of  usefulness,  it  does  not  fie  readily  into  the 
rotations  especially  the  short  ones  which  are  so  essential  to- 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  33 

diversified  agriculture  and  of  which  the  red  and  mammoth 
cloverfe  are  so  integral  and  essential  a  part.  It  cannot  endure 
cold  winters  in  soils  saturated  with  water  or  covered  with  ice 
during  the  winter  season,  and  hence,  while  having  a  wider 
range  than  the  ordinary  clovers,  it  is  almost  as  rigidly  exclud- 
ed from  their  domain  as  they  are  from  the  domain  of  alfalfa. 

Alfalfa  then  has  two  leading  uses,  one,  and  the  main  one 
as  a  forage  crop  in  the  regions  where  irrigation  is  possible, 
and  the  other  as  a  substitute  for  the  ordinary  clovers  where 
they  fail  from  lack  of  summer  moisture.  It  is  the  peculiarity 
of  arid  soils  and  to  a  certain  extent  of  the  semi-arid,  that  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  deposited  prevent  the  forma- 
tion of  heavy  clays,  thus  removing  one  of  the  main  obstacles 
to  the  growth  of  alfalfa.  These  soils  have  also  comparatively 
rainless  summers  and  therefore  provide  the  conditions  for 
curing  with  dispatch  this  clover  which  seems  to  have  been 
designed  especially  for  their  benefit.  The  discussion  of  the 
growing  of  alfalfa  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  parts,  its 
culture  under  irrigation  and  its  culture  as  a  substitute  for 
other  clovers,  on  soils  and  in  climates  where  irrigation  is  not 
practicable  and  where  the  latter  are  not  a  reliable  crop. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  over  more  than  one  third  of 
the  United  States  perennial  grasses  can  be  grown  only  by  ir- 
rigation the  importance  of  the  position  sustained  by  alfalfa 
will  be  readily  recognized.  It  will  grow  steadily  in  popular 
favor  when  irrigated  lands  lose  their  virgin  fertility,  as  they 
will  in  time,  and  when  therefore  it  becomes  necessary  to  find 
some  method  of  restoring  the  wastes  of  the  soil  robber.  The 
farmer  on  the  plains  and  mountain  valleys  and  on  the  Pacific 
coast  will  then  be  compelled  to  call  on  alfalfa  to  do  for  him 
what  red  clover  does  for  the  farmer  in  the  Eastern  states  and 
on  the  prairies. 

In  the  Pacific  states  and  in  the  mountain  valleys  it  is 
possible,  by  irrigation,  to  produce,  on  suitable  land,  from  ten 
to  fifteen  tons  of  alfalfa  hay  per  annum.  This  alfalfa  hay  has 
a  higher  feeding  value  than  that  made  from  any  other  known 
grass  grown  in  the  United  States.  This  immense  yield  is  se- 
cured in  the  southern  sections  by  four  or  five  cuttings  dur- 
ing the  season;  the  first  crop  is  taken  off  early,  the  land  being 
flooded  immediately  afterward  and  soaked  to  the  depth  of  sev- 
eral feet.  The  alfalfa  then  grows  with  wonderful  vigor  and 
in  a  few  weeks  is  ready  to  cut  again,  the  extreme  dryness  of 
the  atmosphere  and  freedom  from  summer  rains  rendering  it 
possible  to  handle  the  crop  and  secure  it  in.  the  best  condi- 


34  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

tion  at  almost  any  time  during  the  season.  In  the  more 
northern  sections,  fewer  cuttings  are  possible  and  of  course 
the  yield  is  less  per  acre.  The  hay  crop  is  taken  when  the 
plant  is  just  coming  into  bloom  and  before  the  stems  have 
been  converted  to  woody  fiber,  to  a  great  extent  indigestible. 
When  a  seed  crop  is  desired  one  of  the  latter  growths  is  al- 
lowed to  ripen,  the  yield  sometimes  reaching  as  high  as  ten 
bushels  per  acre. 

While  alfalfa  is  in  the  main  a  forage  crop  and  its  princi- 
ple use  that  of  a  permanent  meadow,  it  can  be  pastured  with 
safety  after  it  has  become  well  established  and  its  roots  have 
penetrated  to  great  depths.  It  is  largely  used  in  this  way  in 
connection  with  the  ranches  of  the  mountain  states,  furnish- 
ing, as  it  does  by  its  last  growth,  a  means  of  ripening  the 
vast  herds  of  cattle  that  have  been  carried  through  the  sum- 
mer on  the  wild  grasses  of  the  ranges.  It  has  proven  equally 
valuable  on  the  great  plains  wherever  there  are  suitable  facili- 
ties for  irrigation,  or  where  by  reason  of  the  nature  of  the 
subsoil  the  roots  ca.3.  reach  down  in  a  year  or  two  to  perma- 
nent moisture.  It  is  not  at  all  uncommon,  in  regions  where 
the  sheet  water  or  the  underflow  of  the  rivers  of  the  plains, 
such  as  the  Arkansas  or  the  Platte,  is  within  reach,  to  find 
alfalfa  flourishing  without  irrigation  after  the  second  or  third 
year,  or,  in  other  words,  after  the  roots  have  reached  a  perma- 
nent supply  of  water. 

In  sowing  alfalfa  for  cultivation  under  irrigation  the  soil 
must  be  well  prepared.  Alfalfa  tolerates  no  slovenly  culture. 
There  being  no  heavy  clays  in  this  region  and  the  under  soil 
being,  to  a  very  great  depth,  as  rich  as  the  upper,  this  is  a 
comparatively  easy  matter.  The  seed  is  usually  sown  broad- 
cast at  the  rate  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  pounds  per  acre  and 
covered  sufficiently  to  insure  germination. 

Should  weeds  threaten  to  smother  the  young  plant? 
they  should  be  clipped,  setting  the  mower  high,  and  in  this 
way  the  plants  are  allowed  free  access  to  air  and  sunlight. 
In  order  to  prevent  weed  growth,  alfalfa  is  sometimes  sown  in 
drills  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  apart,  and  cultivated  until  per- 
manently established.  This  is  the  English  method  of  alfalfa 
culture. 

A  stand  once  secured,  it  lasts  for  many  years  with  propel 
care  and  management.  It  must  not  however  be  either  mow- 
ed or  pastured  until  it  has  become  well  established.  Some- 
times, under  very  favorable  conditions,  one  or  two  crops  can 
be  taken  the  year  it  is  sown  and  the  second  season  three,  but 


CLOVER  CUI/TURE.  35 

it  is  better  to  allow,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  clovers,  a  good 
start  before  making  any  demands  on  the  crop.  While  alfalfa,, 
like  all  the  clovers,  is  a  fertilizing  crop  and  increases  the  sup- 
ply of  nitrogen  in  the  soil,  while  at  the  same  time  producing 
an  enormous  quantity  in  the  forage,  it  is  not  a  suitable  crop 
for  poor,  wornout  land.  It  requires  good  land  to  start  with. 
Arid  and  semi-arid  soils  nearly  all  have  abundant  fertility,, 
(owing  to  the  fact  that  they  have  not  been  subject  to  the  leach- 
ing process,  so  far  as  nitrogen  is  concerned ,  inseparable  from 
a  sufficient  annual  rainfall,)  to  secure  vigorous  plant  life,  and 
therefore  the  main  consideration  is  a  proper  mechanical  con- 
dition of  the  soil  and  an  abundant  artificial  supply  of  mois- 
ture. In  soils  that  are  not  capable  of  irrigation  the  growth 
must  be  rapid  in  order  that  the  roots  may  speedily  reach  per- 
manent moisture  and  for  this  reason  the  land  must  be  in  good 
heart. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  above  statements  what  a  veri- 
table godsend  alfalfa  has  been  to  the  arid  regions  of  America. 
When  the  irrigated  wheat  lands  have  lost  their  virgin  fertility ,. 
which  is  only  a  question  of  time,  its  culture  will  be  greatly 
extended.  It  will  then  be  used  as  a  rotation  grass,  as  well 
as  a  source  of  hay  and  pasture,  the  rotation  being  of  necessity 
a  long  one,  on  account  of  the  number  of  years  required  to  se- 
cure a  crop  that  will  give  the  best  results. 

Of  late  years  farmers  in  the  semi-arid  regions  are  begin- 
ing  to  realize  the  value  of  alfalfa  as  a  substitute  for  the  clo- 
vers usually  grown  on  regions  of  sufficient  permanent  rain- 
fall. It  is  not  easy  to  locate  on  the  map  what,  for  the  purpose 
of  this  work,  should  be  called  the  semi-arid  region,  using  the 
term  as  we  do  to  describe  the  region  west  of  the  Missouri 
where  the  ordinary  clovers  cannot  be  grown  as  a  reasonably 
reliable  crop.  We  have  in  view  that  large  region  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  where  the  methods  of  farming  followed 
over  the  greater  part  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  as  for  instance 
in  the  states  of  Iowa,  Missouri,  Minnesota  and  the  eastern 
portions  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  cannot  be  followed  with 
success.  This  region  may  be  said  to  be  approximately  bound- 
ed on  the  east  by  a  line  which,  on  the  southern  border  o£ 
Kansas,  begins  near  the  98th  meridian  of  longitude  west  from, 
Greenwich,  and  passing  thence  west  of  north  crosses  the  Ne- 
braska line  near  the  100  meridian  arid  continuing  in  the  same- 
direction  some  seventy-five  miles  into  that  state,  it  changes  a. 
little  to  the  east  of  north  and  thence  extends  into  the  Dako- 
tas.  In  this  region  the  limitations  as  to  what  crops  can  and; 


36  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

what  cannot  be  grown  successfully,  whether  of  grain  or  grass, 
liave  not  been  fully  determined.  It  is  quite  clear  that  corn 
<cannot  be  depended  upon  as  a  pay  ing  crop,  and  the  same  is 
true,  as  a  rule,  of  the  clovers  and  other  grasses  grown  farther 
east.  The  experience  of  farmers  has  already  determined  their 
unprofitableness  except  in  certain  favored  localities. 

With  these  important  crops  stricken  from  the  list,  the 
entire  aspect  of  farming  changes.  Other  crops  suited  to  the 
<climatic  conditions  must  be  found,  and  even  the  methods  of 
work  to  which  the  farmer  has  been  accustomed  in  other  lo- 
calities and  under  other  conditions,  materially  changed. 
There  is  no  plant  that  gives  promise  of  greater  usefulness  to 
the  farmers  of  that  region  than  alfalfa,  and  with  a  view  to  giv- 
ing our  readers  the  most  reliable  information  on  the  subject 
we  have  requested  Prof.  Georgeson,  of  the  Kansas  Agricul- 
tural College,  to  contribute  to  these  pages  the  results  of  his 
valuable  experience  and  observation,  which  he  has  kindly 
consented  to  do  in  the  following: 

As  has  been  noted  elsewhere,  alfalfa  is  a  perennial  plant.     It  sends  its 
srootsdeep  into  the  ground,  and  once  established  in  a  suitable  soil,  it  will 
.yield  profitable  crops  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years.     Because  of  its 
•deep  rooting  nature,  it  is  less  dependent  upon  the  rainfall  than  almost  any 
-other  farm  crop.     Its  wonderful  roots,  which  in  some  instances  have  been 
traced  thirty  feet  deep,  reaching  down  far  below  the  influence  of  loca 
showers  and  the  solar  heat,- and  pumping  up  moisture  from  below,  sus 
tain  the  plant  in  periods  of  drouth.     This  feature  is  greatly  in  favor  of 
alfalfa  for  that  region      But  what  is  more  to  the  point,  it  has  been  proved 
4o  be  a  success  both  with  and  without  irrigation  in  this  semi-arid  region — 
with  irrigation  producing  magnificent  yields,  and  on  the  uplands  withou* 
•irrigation,  producing  an  occasional  good  crop  of  hay,  and  at  all  times  bet 
ter  pasture  than  the  native  grasses  afford.     In  Kansas  there  are  instance 
•of  its  successful   culture  in  nearly  every  one  of  the  western  counties. 
Particularly  is  this  the  case  in  Ford  and  Finney  counties,  where  efforts  in 
this  direction  have  been  more  persistent  than  elsewhere.     Along  the  Ar 
Jkansas  valley  in  these  counties  it  grows  to  perfection. 

The  prospect  of  alfalfa  growing  in  the  West  may  be  studied  under  three 
conditions.  First,  under  irrigation.  This  aspect  of  the  case  requires  but 
little  notice  here.  With  irrigation,  whether  on  upland  or  lowland,  it  is 
•one  of  the  surest  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  profitable  crops  that  can  be 
raised,  and  its  successful  Culture  is  not  at  all  problemati  *al. 

Second,  on  the  lowlands  without  irrigation.  Under  this  condition  it  is 
also  grown  successfully,  as  is  testified  by  thousands  of  acres  now  in  alfalfa 
in  western  Kansas.  But  the  success,  that  is,  the  yield,  varies  with  the 
situation.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  bottom  lands  in  that  reorion 
have  a  porous,  sandy  subsoil,  through  which  the  water  of  the  streams 
percolate  with  ease  for  long  distances,  forming  what  i<  known  as  "sheet 
water."  This  water  is,  in  some  places,  very  near  the  surface,  in  others  it 
is  ten,  twelve,  or  more  feet  betow.  On  such  lands,  where  the  roots  pene- 
trate with  ease  to  the  water,  alfalfa  is  successfully  grown  without  irriga- 
tion. 

Third,  on  uplands  and  without  irrigation.  It  is  especially  this  aspect 
-of  the  case  that  commands  our  attention,  because,  at  best,  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  country  is  made  up  of  valley  lands  of  the  above  character. 


CULTURE.  3fr 

There  are  a  hundred  acres  of  dry  upland  1o  Itoe  of  bottom  land.  Land, 
that  is  in  itself  very  fertile,  with  a  beautiful,  gently  undulating  surface., 
but  which  is  hopelessly  beyond  the  reach  of  any  system  of  irrigation,  and 
which  owing  to  the  dry  climate  with  an  average  rain  fall  of  less  thai: 
twenty  inches,  cannot  be  cultivated  as  farms  are  cultivated  further  east. 
Can  alfalfa  bo  grown  here?  The  answer  is  a  qualified  affirmative.  ActuaS 
trials  in  many  places  have  demonstrated  that  alfalfa  can  be  grown  on 
these  dry  uplands,  but  the  yield  in  forage  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
yield  in  the  lowlands.  In  the  first  place,  the  obtaining  of  a  good  stand  is 
attended  with  more  difficulties.  If  the  rain  in  the  early  part  of  May  is 
sufficient  only  to  germinate  the  seed,  but  not  enough  to  sustain  the  young 
plants  till  they  get  a  foot  hold,  the  stand  will  be  light,  and  at  times  it  may 
require  two  or  more  seedings  before  the  crop  is  well  launched.  Again, 
the  growth  the  first  year  is  feeble,  and  nothing,  either  in  the  way  of  pas] 
ture  or  hay,  can  reasonably  be  expected  from  it  the  first  season;  no  pas- 
ture, because  it  would  kill  the  crop  to  turn  the  stock  on  it,  and  no  hay 
because  the  growth  is  too  light.  The  second,  third  and  succeeding  years 
it  will  jield  increasingly  good  pasture,  but  it  is  only  in  favorable  seasons- 
that  it  will  produce  fair  hay  crops.  Under  the  conditions  named  it  is,, 
however,  a  great  thing  for  the  plant  to  live  and  yield  pasturage,  for  a& 
pasturage  it  far  exceeds  the  wild  grasses  both  in  quantity  and  quality^ 
There  is  no  better  pasture  for  horses,  hogs  and  sheep,  nor  indeed  for  cat- 
tle, except  that  it  sometimes  causes  them  to  bloat.  This  upland  alfalfa 
has  one  other  good  feature — it  yields  seed  of  superior  quality,  even  though 
only  in  moderate  quantity.  Combining  these  feature* — good  pasture,  an 
occasional  hay  crop  and  a  sure  producer  of  good  seed — and  add  to  this- 
its  manurial  properties,  which,  as  we  shall  see,  is  by  no  means  its  least 
virtue,  we  have  in  alfalfa  a  better  forage  plant  for  the  western  plains- 
than  any  other  parenniH  that  hns  yet  been  brought  to  our  notice. 

The  claims  here  made  are  moderate.  Oftentimes  it  will  exceed  the  re- 
sults here  promised.  In  favorable  seasons  the  crop  may  be  started  with, 
ease  even  on  the  unbroken  prairie.  The  Hon.  R.  P.  Kelly,  of  Eureka,. 
Kansas,  who  is  a  close  observer  and  an  accomplished  scientist,  informs  me 
that  he  has  seen  a  ca?p  in  point  which  is  worth  noting  here.  On  a  large- 
ranch  in  Meade  county,  auout  three  hundred  acres  of  creek  bottom  were? 
sown  to  alfalfa.  It  grew  well  and  yielded  abundantly.  On  one  occasion* 
the  crop  was  cut  late,  part  of  it  having  matured  seed.  This  hay  was  fed 
to  a  large  herd  of  cattle  during  the  fall  and  winter,  and  for  that  purpose 
was  spread  over  quite  a  large  area  of  the  adjoining  slopes  and  upland.  To^ 
the  surprise  of  the  owners,  as  well  as  to  all  others  who  subsequently  saw 
it,  the  seed  thus  scattered  on  the  prairie  sod  took  root  the  following  spring 
and  made  a  good  and  permanent  stand  of  alfalfa.  Another  almost  iden- 
tical case  happened  in  another  place  and  has  been  related  to  me  by  the 
owner  of  the  pasture.  If  such  accidents  lead  to  success,  what  is  to  hinder 
the  same  results  being  attained  with  the  judicious  use  of  proper  imple- 
ments and  a  good  supply  of  seed  ? 

There  are  places  where  alfalfa  cannot  grow,  regardless  of  climate,. 
Wherever  there  is  an  impervious  clay,  the  so  called  "gumbo,"  or  a  layer 
of  hardpan,  or  rock  within  a  few  feet  of  the  surface,  it  will  be  a  total 
failure  if  on  the  uplands,  and  but  a  very  indifferent  success  on  th& bot- 
tom lands.  Likewise  on  the  bottom  lands,  where  the  soil  water  stands 
too  near  the  surface,  or  where  it  is  overflowed  for  considerable  periods,, 
alfalfa  should  not  be  sown. 

For  successful  seeding  prepare  a  good  seed  bed  by  whatever  means* 
may  bf»  found  most  expedient  In  most  cases  I  should  prefer  to  plow  in 
the  fall;  or,  in  sections  of  liarht  soil  with  dry  and  windy  winters,  early  in, 
spring.  Pulverize  the  surface  well,  and  do  not  sow  the  seed  in  this  ele- 
vated western  region'  until  the  latter  part  of  April,  or  the  beginning  of 
M.iy.  Late  frosts  are  liable  to  occur  here,  and  these  sometimes  nip 


38  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

young  plants  severely  if  fhey  germinate  too  early.  On  the  uplands  I 
would  sow  not  less  than  twenty  five  pounds  nf  seed  to  the  acre,  and  on 
the  low  lands,  twenty  pounds.  &ow  broadcast,  either  by  hand,  or  with  a 
gras*  seed  attachment  to  a  drill  or  disc  harrow.  C  >ver  the  seed  well  with 
«ome  implement  that  suits  the  nature  of  the  soil.  If  sown  by  hand  the 
di*c  harrow,  run  shallow,  will  afford  the  ^est  covering;  then  apply  a 
heavy  roller.  On  the  uplands  it  should  always  be  sown  by  itself.  If 
sown  with  oats,  barl  y,  or  the  like,  the  young  plants  are  apt  to  be  killed 
by  exposure  to  the  sun  aft^r  the  "nurse  crop"  has  been  removed.  On 
irrigated  land  ther  i  is  but  little  danger  of  this  kind,  and  the  seed'is  gen- 
erally sown  with  some  spring  crop.  I  prefer,  in  all  cases,  to  sow  broad- 
cast. When  young  or  n^wly  cut  the  ground  is  not  then  so  exposed  to  the 
•scorching  sun  as  when  it  stands  in  rows. 

The  first  year  is  always  the  most  precarious  period.  No  stock  should 
<ever  be  allowed  on  it  that  year  and  care  should  be  taken  that  it  is  not 
•choked  out  by  weeds.  To  kill  these  run  over  the  ground  two  or  three 
times  with  the  mower  during  the  season  and  set  the  finger-bar  high, 
^especially  the  first  time,  to  avoid  injuring  the  young  plants.  On  the 
uplands  a  second  year  of  this  treatment  may  occasionally  be  necessary. 
Wh°in  pastured,  care  should  be  taken  that  it  is  not  over-stocked;  for,  if 
iin  addition  to  a  drouth  and  a  weary  search  for  water  on  the  part  of  the 
roots,  it  is  kept  grazed  to  the  ground,  the  crop  will  be  brought  to  an 
untimely  end.  It  makes  one  of  the  best  pastures  for  hogs  imaginable, 
but  for  the  good  of  the  crop  they  should  not  be  put  on  till  it  is  thoroughly 
established.  They  "should  be  prevented  from  rooting  by  ringing  their 
noses  and  they  should  not  be  kept  on  long  enough  at, a  time  to  injure  it. 

For  hay  the  crop  should  be  cut  every  time  it  comes  in  bloom,  no  mat- 
ter what  its  height  may  be.  It  does  not  grow  any  taller  after  it  begins  to 
bloom,  and  if  allowed  to  go  to  seed  it  will  drop  its  leaves,  and,  moreover, 
will  make  little  or  no  growth  after  that  for  the  rest  of  the  year.  Cut  it 
when  about  one-fourth  in  bloom.  The  hay  is  very  brittle,  and  the  leaves, 
the  best  part  of  it,  break  off  easily  in  handling.  To  diminish  this  waste 
it  must  be  cured  with  care.  The  best  practice  is  to  rake  in  the  afternoon 
what  has  been  c  »t  in  the  forenoon,  put  it  into  good  sized  cocks  and  let  it 
cure  there  thoroughly  before  it  is  stacked.  If  the  crop  is  light  and  the 
«un  strong,  the  rake  may  follow  soon  after  the  mower.  If  dried  too 
much  in  the  swath,  there  will  be  little  besides  the  dry  stalks  left  when 
the  crop  is  raked.  To  keep  alfalfa  hay  well  the  stack  must  be  covered, 
or  it  must  be  housed.  It  does  not  shed  rain  well  and  a  single  soaking 
rain  will  cause  it  to  mould  and  spoil.  Growers  of  alfalfa  in  western  Kan- 
sas prefer,  for  these  reasons,  to  dispose  of  the  crop  as  soon  as  possible 
after  it  is  secured.  It  sells  usually  in  the  towns  to  local  consumers  for 
about  $3.00  a  ton.  Some  of  io  is  baled  and  shipped  to  other  points,  but 
the  frieght  rates  are  so  high  as  to  make  this  impracticable,  unless  it  can 
be  sold  to  unusual  advantage.  On  low  lands,  or  when  under  irrigation, 
the  fields  are  usually  cut  three  times  and  sometimes  four  during  the 
season.  It  is  a  usual  practice  to  take  two  crops  of  hay  and  to  let  the 
third  crop  go  to  seed.  Sometimes,  however,  an  early  frost  will  catch  this 
crop  before  the  seed  matures,  and,  of  course,  blast  the  prospects  of 
-seed.  So,  to  make  it  sure,  the  second  crop  is  often  taken  for  seed.  The 
seed  can  be  threshed  and  cleaned  on  an  ordinary  separator.  The  yield 
on  thi  bottom  lands  fs  reported  to  have  fallen  off  in  late  years.  V/hen 
first  started  the  alfalfa  crop  frequently  yielded  from  ten  to  twelve  bushels 
of  seed  to  the  acre;  now  it  is  said  to  average  only  between  five  and  seven 
bushels.  This  is  for  the  vicinity  of  Garden  City.  On  the  uplands  the 
yield  is  nearly  as  good.  There  is  a  large  demand  for  the  seed  from  seed- 
men  and  it  sells  at  from  $3.50  to  $4.00  per  bushel,  and  these  prices  are 
likely  to  remain  stationary  for  some  years  to  come -until  the  supply  has 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


(been  largely  increased.     At  present  the  increase  in  demand  is  equal  to 
the  increace  in  production. 

As  regards  its  nutritive  qualities  there  are  but  few  other  plants  that 
•can  compare  with  alfafa.  Red  clover  is  the  best  known  and  most  uni- 
versal leguminous  crop.  For  the  sake  of  comparison  I  quote  the  follow- 
ing analyses  of  the  two  from  Wolf's  tables.  The  figures  refer  to  the 
•digestible  nutrients  in  each  case: 


Red  clover. 
Quality  very  good. 

Alfalfa. 
Quality  very  good. 

Hay. 

Green. 
In  blossom. 

Hay. 

Green. 
In  blossom. 

'Crude  Protein 

8  5 
38.2 

1.7 
5 

1.7 
8.8 
0.4 
5.7 

12.3 
31.4 
1.0 

2.8 

3.2 
8.1 
03 
3.1 

Carbohydrates  

Fat 

Nutritive  ratio.  . 

It  will  be  here  seen  that  alfalfa,  either  as  hay  or  green,  contains  more 
of  the  most  valuable  nutrient  (protein)  than  red  clover,  and  the  nutri- 
tive ratio  indicates  that  it  is  nearly  as  narrow.  The  figures  speak  for 
themselves.  Further  argument  on  that  point  is  unnecessary.* 

What  place,  then,  can  alfalfa  take  in  western  farming?  It  is  grown 
with  excellent  success  on  the  bottom  lands  and  under  irrigation.  It  can 
be  grown,  and  is  grown,  with  comparative  success  on  the  uplands.  But 
this  is  not  all.  As  a  fertilizing  agent  of  the  soil  it  is  fully  equal,  if  not 
superior,  to  red  clover.  It  is  a  nitrogen  gatherer  of  the  first  magnitude, 
and  its  habit  of  growth  renders  it  peculiarly  efficient  as  a  renovator  and 
enricher  of  the  soil.  The  long  roots  draw  up  ash  elements  from  depths 
where  no  other  crops  could  feed,  and  store  them  until,  by  their  decay, 
they  again  give  them  up  to  succeeding  crops.  By  their  penetration  into 
the  subsoil  it  is  on  their  decay  rendered  more  porous;  it  is  aereated  more 
perfectly  than  by  other  crops;  the  water  will  drain  through  the  soil  bet- 
ter for  the  openings  they  leave  and  thus  store  more  water  beiow  which 
can  again  be  raised  more  easily  through  the  capillaries  they  have  formed. 
These  are  all  beneficial  features. 

Alfalfa,  however,  has  some  drawbacks.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  it  takes 
so  long  to  develop  its  full  powers  it  can  never  take  the  place  in  a  short  ro- 
tation that  clover  occupies  farther  east.  For  that  purpose  we  must  look 
to  some  other  leguminous  crop  which  can  thrive  in  that  region,  and  it 
seems  probable  that  the  soy  bean  will  meet  the  want.  But  alfalfa  can  be 
used  in  a  longer  rotation.  If  it  is  allowed  to  stand  five  years  and  then 
plowed  under,  it  will  have  served  for  pasture  or  meadow  at  least  three  or 
four  years  and  at  the  same  time  will  have  developed  a  large  root  growth 
for  the  benefit  of  the  soil.  Many  would  hesitate  to  break  up  a  good  alfalfa 
field,  but  by  breaking  up  a  portion  and  seeding  an  equal  portion  every 
year  the  acreage  could  be  maintained,  and  there  would  be  no  loss  of  feed. 
I  should  consider  this  the  §afest  practice.  It  will  not  do  to  allow  the 
soil  to  lose  fertility.  Our  western  farmers  must  resort  to  renovating 
crops  of  some  kind,  and,  used  in  this  manner,  alfalfa  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose. Tf,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  farmers  in  the  section  of  country 
above  described,  find  themselves  tilling  an  exhausted  soil  in  addition  to 
the  precarious  circumstances  which  now  mark  the  situation,  their  lot  will 

*  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  it  is  customary  to  cut  alfalfa  when  one- 
fourth  in  bloom,  while  red  clover  is  usually  cut  for  hay  after  it  is  full  bloom  and  one- 
ithird  or  more  of  the  heads  have  turned  brown.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the 
relative  supply  of  protein  decreases  rapidly  ih  all  plants  after  blooming  has  commenced. 
Unless  these  facts  are  borne  in  mind  the  above  comparison  is  in  danger  of  mislead- 
ing.— The  Author. 


40  CL,OVER  CUI/TURE. 

be  hard  indeed.  But  this  need  not  happen.  They  have  already  discov- 
ered that  land  which  has  been  in  alfalfa  far  out  yields  adjoining  land  of 
equal  original  fertility.  An-1  I  already  hear  of  instances  where  compar- 
atively young  alfalfa  fields  are  broken  up  to  be  followed  with  wheat  be 
cause  of  the  increased  yields  they  afford.  This  is  right  and  should  be 
encouraged.  While  permanent  and  exclusive  stock  farms  with  alfalfa  the 
main  if  not  the  only  crop  will  of  course  be  numerous,  and  while  stock 
raising  must  always  be  a  prominent  feature  of  agriculture  in  that  region^ 
the  vast  majority  of  the  farmers  must  ensrage  more  or  less  in  mixed  hus- 
bandry. They  must  grow  wheat,  barley,  oats,  Kaffir  corn  and  such  other 
crops  as  will  prove  to  be  certain  and  profitable,  and  this  system  leads  to 
certain  exhaustion  of  the  soil  and  consequent  ruin  of  the  farmer^  unless 
some  renovating  crop  keeps  up  the  balance  of  fertility.  Eastward  clover 
is  that  crop;  in  the  West  alfalfa  can  and  doubtless  will  take  the  same 
function,  if  not  exactly  in  the  same  manner  at  least  with  the  same  result. 

The  above  from  Prof.  Georgeson  so  completely  covers- 
the  ground  in  the  territory  and  under  the  conditions  indicat- 
ed that  every  reader  who  knows  the  character  of  his  soil  and 
subsoil  can  determine  with  reasonable  accuracy  at  once 
whether  it  will  pay  him  to  grow  alfalfa.  We  have  recently 
made  a  careful  personal  investigation  of  the  conditions  in  the 
territory  indicated,  and  our  observations  coincide  with  the 
conclusions  ofjProf.  Georgeson  in  every  particulci.  It  is  our 
object  to  make  this  work  a  reliable  guide  to  the  farmer  in 
growing  clovers  best  adapted  to  his  own  particular  soil  and 
climate;  and  for  this  reason  we  have  supplemented  our  own 
studies  and  observations  with  the  experience  of  other  men 
who  have  made  the  growing  of  the  clovers  a  matter  of  special 
study  and  experiment  in  the  several  sections  of  the  West. 
We  have  no  doubt  that  there  are  very  considerable  areas  of 
country  east  and  south  of  the  district  indicated  in  which  it 
will  pay  to  grow  alfalfa  without  irrigation.  In  fact,  subject 
to  the  conditions  of  subsoil  indicated  by  Prof.  Georgeson,  we 
believe  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  maxim  that  where  clover 
ends,  alfalfa  begins.  The  Creator  has  made  no  mistake  in 
providing  leguminous  plants  for  every  country  where  he  in- 
tended the  farmer  to  prosper. 

In  traveling  over  Kansas  and  Nebraska  for  the  special 
study  of  the  problem  of  growing  the  clovers,  we  were  im- 
pressed by  the  failures  of  many  alfalfa  growers  because  of  the 
lack  of  reliable  information  as  to  the  best  methods  of  grow- 
ing alfalfa,  under  their  present  conditions.  With  a  view  of 
giving  the  reader  of  the  far  West  definite  and  reliable  informa- 
tion on  this  point  we  requested  Prof.  C.  I/.  lugersoll,  of  the 
Nebraska  State  University  to  contribute  to  these  pages  the 
results  of  his  wide  observation  and  special  studies  on  the  sub- 
ject of  al fil fa  under  irrigation.  Prof.  Ingersoll  has  special 


CUI/TURE.  41 

•qualifications  for  this  work.  He  was  for  five  years  connected 
with  the  Colorado  Experiment  Station,  and  during  these  five 
years  made  alfalfa  under  irrigation  a  matter  of  special  study 
-and  experiment.  He  has  kindly  consented  to  give  the  reader 
the  benefit  of  his  knowledge  and  experience.  In  the  follow- 
ing pages  he  so  completely  covers  the  ground  that  the  reader 
in  this  district,  whether  in  Nebraska  or  the  states  further 
West,  who  carefully  studies  and  follows  his  instructions,  can 
scarcely  be  said  to  be  experimenting  with  the  plant: 

The  subject  of  alfalfa  culture  in  the  United  States  has  received  great 
impetus  within  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  because  of  its  peculiar 
adaptation  to  culture  in  the  more  arid  regions,  and  the  excellent  results 
obtained.  The  plant  itself  is  not  a  modern  one,  but  has  been  cultivated 
for  several  centuries.  It  is  perennial,  and  when  once  successfully  estab- 
lished in  a  soil,  will  remain  and  grow  vigorously  for  years.  In  this 
respect  it  is  quite  unlike  its  congener — the  red  clover,  which  usually 
lasts  but  two,  or  at  most  three  years  without  reseeding.  On  this  account 
the  alfalfa  is,  therefore,  of  special  value. 

The  plant  has  been  known  by  the  Spanish  name,  alfafa,  rather  than 
by  its  French  name,  lucern,  because  it  has  come  to  us  by  the  way  of 
South  America  and  California,  where,  with  a  fepanish  speaking  popula- 
tion, it  would  naturally  be  called  by  its  Spanish  name.  Its  botanical 
name  i&  Medicago  sativa,  and  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  raised  by  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  to  some  extent,  as  long  ago  as  the  Christian 
era.  Indeed  the  name  Medicago,  applying  to  the  genus,  is  derived  from 
the  Greek  word  signifying  forage  or  forage  plant.  Other  persons  have 
supposed  that  the  name  was  derived  from  the  Province  of  Media,  where 
it  was  supposed  to  have  been  cultivated  in  early  times.  Some  of  the 
Roman  writers  have  metntioned  it  in  their  writings.  In  its  introduction 
into  America,  it  seems  first  to  have  found  its  way  into  the  countries  of 
South  America,  where  there  is  little  rainfall  and  where  irrigation  has 
been  practiced  to  some  extent.  From  these  countries  and  especially  Chili, 
it  has  found  its  way  into  some  parts  of  Mexico,  and  also  into  Southern 
•California,  from  which  place  it  has  spread  into  the  states  and  territories 
lying  to  the  eastward  and  reaching  as  far  as  the  Missouri  river.  Agricul- 
ture in  these  regions  on  account  of  the  physical  conditions  occasioned  by 
lack  of  rainfall,  must  be  carried  on  almost  exclusively  by  means  of  irri- 
gation, and  whi^e*  varied  crops  could  be  grown  successfully,  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  good  stands  of  gra^s  or  the  ordinary  clover  could  be  ob- 
tained under  this  system.  In  alfalfa,  then,  those  farmers  seemed  to  have 
secured  the  plant  with  all  the  conditions  necessary  to  supply  them  with 
forage.  They  found  that  it  was  a  plant  easily  raised,  provided  proper 
care  were  used  to  put  the  soil  in  proper  condition,  that  it  grew  thrifty, 
that  it  maintained  its  hold  upon  the  fields,  was  strong  and  did  not  kill 
easily  by  winter  exposure.  They  found  that  a  given  area  would  produce 
a  much  larger  cutting  of  forage  of  good  quality,  than  one  set  of  grasses  or 
ordinary  clover.  Although  they  were  liable  to  be  prejudiced  against  it 
because  of  th^  prevailing  systems  in  the  East,  they  soon  found  that  al- 
falfa was  valuable  in  flesh  producing  compounds,  and  that  animals  soon 
learned  to  love  it  and  thrived  upon  it.  They  also  found  that  it  was  an 
excellent  milk  producer,  and  that  when  fed  to  sheep  it  produced  a  good 
•quality  of  wool.  All  of  these  things  combined  to  induce  farmers  of  this 
^region  to  forego  their  former  experiences,  and  to  learn,  as  it  were,  the 
.new  agriculture,  with  alfalfa  as  the  forage  plant  as  the  basis. 


42  CIX> VER  CULTURE. 

Alfalfa  is  adapted  to  all  the  soils  found  upon  the  slope  of  the  mountains 
in  the  above  mentioned  region,  such  soils  as  a  whole  being  made  up  of 
the  disintegrated  rocks  of  the  region  lying  above  them.  In  the  erosion 
of  the  rocks,  and  in  the  distribution  of  the  material  we  find  considerable 
variation,  for,  in  the  first  place,  the  rocks  vary  somewhat  in  character 
and  hardness. 

It  is  not  usual  to  sow  this  crop  upon  prairie  land  broken  for  the  first 
time,  although  this  is  sometimes  done.  The  best  results  are  usually  at- 
tained when  the  land  has  been  cultivated  in  two  or  three  crops,  such  as 
wheat,  barley  or  oats,  and  then  to  have  the  land  well  prepared  the  fol- 
lowing spring  for  the  seed  bed.  In  ordinary  cases  we  are  to  suppose  a 
depth  of  plowing  varying  from  five  to  seven  inches.  Great  depth  of  plow- 
ing, however,  is  non-essential,  as  the  roots  of  the  plant  penetrate  in  ordi- 
nary soils  to  many  feet  in  depth,  the  plant  having  one  well  marked  tap- 
root which  thrusts  itself  downward  into  the  soil  and  largely  sustains  it, 
while  the  lateral  roots  that  are  thrown  off  are  few  in  number  and  only 
contribute  a  sin  nil  portion  to  the  nutrition  of  the  growing  plant.  One 
might  supposa  that  it  would  be  labor  wasted  to  plow  the  ground  again, 
after  a  crop,  unless  he  were  to  raise  another  crop  of  grain,  but  it  has 
been  ascertained  that  the  best  way  to  secure  a  nice  even  stand  of  alfalfa 
under  irrigation  is  to  raise  it  without  other  crops.  This  may  seem  like 
losing  the  use  of  the  land  for  a  season,  but  the  farmer  will  find  that  he 
is  well  repaid  in  the  end  by  the  strong  and  better  growth  of  the  alfalfa, 
during  the  year,  making  it  strong  to  pass  the  first  winter.  Therefore, 
where  best  results  are  expected,  the  ground  should  be  plowed  in  the  parly 
spring  or  late  in  the  previous  fall,  and  as  soon  as  danger  from  frosts  is 
passed,  in  April  or  May,  the  seed  bed  should  be  carefully  prepared.  This 
must  be  done  by  repeated  harrowings  and  the  use  of  the  roller  or  a  plank 
smoothing  arrangement,  so  that  there  is  a  well  pulverized  seed  bed 
of  one  to  two  inches  upon  the  surface.  The  ground  should  be  moist,  or 
at  least  moist  enough  to  sprout  and  grow  the  s^ed  successfully  without 
irrigation.  If  there  is  not  this  degree  of  moisture  in  the  land,  it  should 
be  irrigated  before  the  seed  bed  is  prepared.  As  alfalfa  seed  is  about  the 
size  and  has  the  same  appearance  as  red  clover,  it  can  be  sown  in  approxi- 
mately in  the  same  manner,  either  broad-cast  or  drilled,  but  more  seed  is 
generally  used  than  of  red  clover.  Various  quantities  are  stated  as  be- 
ing used  bv  successful  farmers  in  the  arid  region,  and  with  equally  good 
results.  One  of  the  finest  fields  the  writer  has  seen  was  prepared  as 
above  stated,  and  the  seed  drilled  in  about  one  inch  in  depth  in  two  direc- 
tions, making  cross  checks,  using  twenty-five  pounds  of  good  seed  per 
acre.  The  field  produced  one  of  the  finest  stands  of  forage  that  we  have 
ever  seen. 

Alfalfa  will  grow  at  almost  any  elevation  below  7,000  down  to  sea  level; 
above  that  the  winters  seem  too  severe  and  the  nights  in  spring  o-  early 
summer  too  cold  and  frosty  for  the  plant  to  thrive  well.  The  number  of 
cuttings  of  forage  which  alfalfa  produces  is  marvelous.  In  northern  Col- 
orado and  this  parallel  extending  east  and  west  at  an  elevation  of  5,000- 
feet,  the  usual  number  of  cuttings  in  a  single  season  is  three,  while  in  ex- 
ceptional seasons,  four  and  even  five  cuttings  have  been  made.  In  south- 
ern Colorado  and  northern  New  Mexico,  four,  five  and  six  cuttings  are 
quite  usual,  and  the  yield  at  each  one  of  these  is  as  great  as  the  yield  of 
good  meadow  gras*.  If  the  total  growth  of  the  plant  during  one  season 
were  taken,  it  would  be  found  to  vary  from  nine  to  fifteen  feet  in  length; 
this  varies,  of  course,  with  the  soil,  local  circumstances,  latitude  and  the 
elevation  above  sea  level;  in  this  case  we  are  supposing  a  proper  amount 
of  water  for  irrigation. 

The  irrigation  of  alfalfa  is  comparatively  easy  after  the  young  plants 
are  started,  but  sometimes  the  ground,  if  not  well  sloped  and  smoothed, 
will  tend  to  wash  and  some  r.fi  the  seed  will  be  covered  too  deeply  by  soil* 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  43 

which  is  conveyed  in  other  places,  and  in  other  cases  the  entire  seed  and 
soil  may  be  washed  away.  Much  care,  then,  and  labor  must  be  used  in 
order  to  prevent  this  condition  of  thing  and  have  a  free  and  equal  distri- 
bution of  the  water  upon  the  field.  The  second  irrigation,  a  few  weeks 
later,  will  be  much  easier,  while  the  third  irrigation  will  usually  cost  little 
or  no  effort.  The  water  should  be  turned  upon>the  alfalfa,  after  the  first 
year,  as  early  in  the  spring  as  it  can  be  obtained  from  the  canals,  and  the 
growth  of  the  plant  will  thus  be  pushed  very  early  and  an  accordingly 
larger  growth  made.  The  experience  with  reference  to  later  irrigation 
varies  somewhat.  Some  good  farmers  prefer  to  turn  the  water  upon  the 
field  just  before  it  is  ready  to  be  cut,  and  then  as  soon  as  the  soil  has  be- 
come reasonably  dry  to  commence  the  haying;  others  prefer  to  make  the 
hay  and  turn  the  water  immediately  upon  the  stubble.  Both  methods  have 
their  adherents  and  advocates,  and  both  obtain  equally  good  results  as  far 
as  our  observation  extends.  It  is  usual  to  irrigate  at  least  once  for  each 
cutting;  sometimes  an  extra  irrigation  would  be  valuable  if  the  weather  be 
extremely  hot  and  dry.  A  late  irrigation  just  before  the  ground  freezes  is 
desirable  to  give  moisture  for  winter. 

i  We  have  alluded  to  the  yield  of  alfalfa  as  a  forage  plant.  It  is  no  un- 
usual thing  to  take  six  or  eight  tons  of  forage  from  a  single  acre,  and  that 
upon  large  areas,  so  that  a  man  who  has  a  comparatively  small  area  well 
set  in  alfalfa  is  master  of  the  situation  as  far  as  forage  is  concerned.  We 
mu*t  remember  that  in  this  region  corn  cannot  be  successfully  raised  in 
large  quantity;  and  if  alfalfa  is  to  be  the  great  forage  plant  in  this  region, 
it  must  successfully  take  the  place  of  corn  in  the  agriculture  at  low  eleva- 
tions. The  amount  of  forage  which  it  furnishes  per  acre  gives  us  the  first 
great  factor  in  this  comparison  and  makes  it  especially  valuable.  The 
farmers  of  Colorado  especially  have  found  alfalfa  to  be  a  very  strong  nu- 
tritive plant  for  feeding,  and  in  some  instances  it  has  been  used  success- 
fully in  the  fattening  of  beef  steers  for  the  market  without  the  addition 
of  a  single  ounce  of  grain  ration.  We  have  seen  the  fattening  of  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  in  one  bunch  that  was  conducted  in  this  way,  and 
the  animals  brought  the  highest  price  in  the  Denver  market.  Perhaps  a 
statement  of  the  composition  of  the  alfalfa  plant  at  this  point  might  not 
be  out  of  place.  Tfce  green  alfalfa  contained  39  11  per  cent,  of  dry  mate- 
rial and  60.89  per  cent,  of  water.  The  alfalfa  hay  contained  9.59  per  cent, 
of  water,  11.90  per  cent,  of  ash,  3.8$  per  cent,  of  fat,  13.87  per  cent,  of  al- 
buminoid nitrogen,  18.01  per  cent*?' of  crude  fiber  and  43.78  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen  free  extract 

This  was  for  alfalfa  cut  when  the  bloom  was  half  turned,  showing  that 
it  was  rapidly  ripening.  Experiments  at  several  of  the  experiment  sta- 
tions in  the  United  States  have  shown  that  this  is  the  proper  time  at 
which  to  cut  grasses  and  clovejs  in  order  to  have  them  retain  the  greatest 
amount  of  nutritive  qualities;.  Alfalfa,  like  other  clovers  and  grasses, 
should  be  carefully  cured  for  hay.  -  As the  leaves  are  somewhat  smaller 
than  those  of  other  clover,  and  the  climate  of  the  arid  region  is  exces- 
sively dry,  it  should  be  secured  before  the  hay  has  cured  too  much  so  as 
to  prevent  the  breaking  off  of  the  leaves  and  leaving  the  hay  largely  of 
bare  stems.  A  very  little  experience  will  teach  one  what  is  best  in  regard 
to  this.  Again,  if  the  plant  stands  too  long  and  becomes  too  ripe,  the 
seed  begins  to  form  and  there  is  too  much  woody  fiber  in  the  stalk,  and 
much  of  it  is  quite  indigestible,  even  when  eaten  by  stock.  It  is  cus- 
tomary in  many  places,  however,  to  cut  one  crop  of  hay,  then  to  take  a 
crop  of  seed  and  to  pasture  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  In  cases  of  this 
kind  we  have  known  three  tons  of  good  hay  to  be  secured,  and  eight 
bushels  of  fine  seed  per  acre,  beside  the  pasture.  It  is  thus  readily  seen 
that  a  plant,  which,  under  irrigation,  will  produce  such  results  as  those 
mentioned,  is  extremely  valuable  to  the  farmer  who  practices  irrigation, 
and  that  in  the  agriculture  of  the  west,  at  an  elevation  of  from  2,500  to 


44  CL,OVER  CUT/TURK,. 

7.000  feet,  there  is  no  other  plant  we  know  of  that  can  take  its  place. 

We  have  often  been  asked  what  was  our  opinion  relative  to  alfalfa  for 
the  state  of  Nebraska.  We  have  always  replied  that  it  would  be  valuable 
for  a  large  portion,  if  not  for  all  the  state.  If  a  line  were  to  be  drawn 
from  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  southwest,  passing  through  Grand  Island,  in  Hall 
county,  extending  to  the  south  line  of  the  state,  all  lying  west  and  north- 
west of  that  line  would,  in  our  opinion,  be  benefitted  by  raising  more  or 
less  of  this  plant  for  forage.  In  the  more  eastern  and  southeastern 
counties,  the  propriety  of  its  general  growth  might,  perhaps,  be  ques- 
tioned; but  even  there,  in  small  areas  for  special  purposes,  it  might  be 
valuable.  In  many  places  farmers  have  made  the  mistake  of  sowing  thfs 
plant  upon  low  ground,  where  it  was  but  a  short  distance  to  water.  It 
should  be  grown  where  its  roots  would  be  obliged  to  go  some  distance  for 
water  and  where  there  is  no  impervious  sub-soil.  When  grown  with  too 
much  moisture  the  plants  turn  yellow,  having  a  feeble,  sickly  appear- 
ance and  usually  die  in  one  or  two  years.  The  same  appearance  is  found 
when  the  roots  of  the  plant  cannot  penetrate  shaly  sub-soil.  In  summing 
up  this  whole  matter  of  alfalfa  growing,  we  believe  that  no  single  plant 
has  been  introduced  in  the  western  part  of  the  United  States  that  is  of 
such  great  utility  and  value  as  alfalfa. 


WHITE  AND  AL8IKE  CLOVER. 


CHAPTER  V. 


White  clover  sustains  the  same  relation  to  permanent 
pastures  on  dry  calcareous  or  carboniferous  soils,  and  alsike  on 
pastures  of  slough,  marsh  or  other  wet  lands,  that  the  red 
and  the  mammoth  sustain  to  the  meadows  in  the  carbonifer- 
ous soils  in  the  northern  arid  western  states  that  have  rain- 
fall of  twenty  inches  and  over,  and  that  alfalfa  sustains  to 
the  deep,  sandy  or  other  light  soils  in  the  Pacific  states  and 
territories  and  other  arid  or  semi-arid  regions  where  irriga- 
tion is  possible.  The  relation  is  not  merely  that  of  a  source 
of  an  abundant  supply  of  pasture  and  forage  on  the  one  hand 
or  of  hay  and  forage  on  the  other,  but  each  is  a  hand-maid,  a 
help-meet,  as  a  source  of  nitrogen  to  whatever  other  grasses, 
non-leguminous,  may  be  associated  with  them.  There  is  no 
true  grass  that  we  know  of  that  will  not  flourish  better  and 
produce  more  abundantly  when  associated  with  the  clovers, 
whether  in  the  pasture  or  in  the  meadows. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  enter  into  any  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  the  white  clover  nor  is  any  illustration  needed  to 
identify  a  plant  so  widely  spread  and  generally  known.  It 
is  called  trijolium  repens,  or  the  creeping  three-leaf  plant, 
because  of  its  creeping  habit  of  growth.  Its  deficiency  in 
length  prevents  it  from  being  of  much  value  as  a  meadow 
grass,  although  the  analysis  of  its  hay  shows  it  to  be  equal,  if 
not, indeed, superior, to  either  the  red  or  the  mammoth  clover. 
It  differs  from  the  red  and  mammoth  in  many  particulars. 

FIRST.  It  is  perennial ;  that  is,  it  grows  from  the  same  root 
year  after  year,  while  the  others  are  for  the  most  part, biennial 


'  46  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

1 

that  is, growing  two  years,  or  at  most  short  perennials,  which 
they  are  said  to  become  if  prevented  from  flowering  by  con- 
tinued pasturage,  and  thus  last  for  three  or  four  years.  It  is 
probable  that  there  is  ground  for  the  statement  made  by 
English  botanists,  and  at  which  we  have  hinted  in  a  previous 
chapter,  that  there  are  at  least  two  varieties  known  as  the 
common  red  clover,  one  of  which  is  strictly  a  biennial  and 
the  other  a  short  perennial.  Another  point  of  difference  is 
that  when  the  creeping  vines  of  white  clover  are  allowed  to 
grow  long,  they  throw  out  rootlets  along  the  vine  which 
give  it  an  ability  to  stand  prolonged  summer  drouths  better 
than  the  red  or  mammoth  varieties  with  their  longer  tap 
roots. 

White  clover  seeds  abundantly,  the  seeds  growing  four 
and  sometimes  six  in  a  pod.  It  secretes  a  great  abundance  of 
nectar  and  being  easily  fertilized  by  the  common  bee,  and 
therefore  independent  of  the  bumble  bee,  it  yields  a  far  more 
certain  crop  of  seed.  It  is  a  common  saying  among  farmers 
that  white  clover  never  fails  to  produce  a  seed  crop.  When 
we  come  to  examine  the  ash  of  the  plant  and  compare  it  with 
red  clover,  the  white  contains  nearly  twice  as  much  phosphoric 
acid,  nearly  four  per  cent,  more  lime,  and  potash  in  the 
proportion  of  two  to  five.  It  will  therefore  flourish  on  soils 
that  aredeficient  in  potash,  while  it  requires  more  phosphoric 
acid  than  the  red  clover.  Both,  however,  by  reason  of  the 
bacteria  in  the  nodules  or  tubercles  on  their  roots, obtain  their 
nitrogen  to  a  very  large  extent  from  the  atmosphere. 

The  history  of  white  clover  is  somewhat  obscure.  It  is 
probably  indigenous  to  the  Eastern  states  of  America,  and  is 
said,  on  what  authority  we  do  not  know,  to  have  been  domes- 
ticated, by  cultivating  the  seeds  of  the  wild  plant,  about  the 
beginning  of  the  last  century.  It  is  recorded  of  a  farmer  in 
one  of  the  Eastern  states  at  that  time  that  he  "sowed  the  wild 
white  clover  which  holds  the  ground  and  decays  not."  In 
Sir  John  Norden's  Surveyor's  Dialogue,  printed  in  1607  and 
re-printed  in  1618,  we  find  the  growing  of  uclouer  grasse  or 
the  grasse  honey  suckle  (white  clover)  with  other  hay  seeds" 
advised.  This  would  indicate  that  it  is  probably  indigenous 
to  England,  and  that  the  attention  of  the  farmers  was  called 
to  its  merits  a  hundred  years  earlier  in  England  than  in 
America.  It  precedes  the  introduction  of  red  clover  from 
Europe  almost  fifty  years.  It  is  not.  so  far  as  we  have 
observed,  indigenous,  that  is  a  natural  product  of  the  soil,  to 
the  West.  It  seems  to  have  come  in  as  did  blue  grass  (poa 


<JUl/rUKl<<.  45 

pratensis\  with  the  introduction  of  lawn  grasses  into  the 
villages,  and  from  this  it  spread  with  the  blue  grass  in  all 
directions  following  naturally  the  main  traveled  roads,  and. 
especially  the  ridge  roads  that  meandered  over  the  unbroken* 
prairie.  We  have  usually  observed  blue  grass  gaining  a  foot- 
hold, where  the  prairie  grass  had  been  tramped  out,  three  or 
four  years  in  advance  of  the^  white  clover;  and  after  the  white 
clover  had  become  established  in  connection  with  the  blue 
grass,  it  always  retains  its  footing.  These  two  grasses  seem 
to  be  united  by  a  marriage  bond  stronger  than  that  of  squire 
or  clergy,  and  one  which  no  court  has  sufficient  jurisdiction  to- 
dissolve.  There  are  two  obvious  reasons  for  this  close  and  inti- 
mate relation  between  blue  grass  and  white  clover.  The  blue 
grass  needs  the  white  clover  to  supply  it  with  nitrogen  which 
it  requires  in  large  quantities,  and  the  period  of  growth  of 
each  is  such  that  neither  interferes  seriously  with  the  other. 
The  blue  grass  has  thrown  up  heads  and  blossoms  and  its 
seed  is  well  on  the  way  to  maturity  before  the  white  clover 
is  ready  to  make  its  push  for  the  occupancy  of  the  ground.- 
The  latter  then  has  the  field  mostly  to  itself  until  the  blue 
grass  is  ready  to  make  its  fall  growth,  hence,  in  mid-summer 
farmers  sometimes  claim  that  the  white  clover  has  taken  the 
blue  grass  and  ar*  disposed  to  mourn  over  the  fact.  An 
examination  of  the  same  field  in  the  fall  will  show  that  blue 
grass  occupies  the  ground  almost  wholly  and  they  are  dis- 
posed to  wonder  where  the  white  clover  has  gone.  It  is  for 
these  two  reasons  that  these  plants  are  found  inseparable  ia 
the  permanent  pasture. 

The  place  for  white  clover  is  in  the  permanent  pastures 
It  should  never  be  sown  in  any  pasture  that  is  not  intended 
to  remain  undisturbed  for  three  years  or  more,  and  it  should 
be  as  far  as  possible  carefully  excluded  from  all  meadows  and 
from  lands  intended  for  rotation  of  five  years  or  less.  The 
reason  need  scarcely  be  stated.  If  sown  on  lands  that  are 
intended  for  meadows,  it  will  very  soon  crowd  out  timothy  and 
the  larger  clovers,  and  thus  greatly  reduce  the  yield  of  forage^ 
It  is  liable  to  spring  up  every  year  in  lands  cultivated  in  corm 
or  other  tillage  crops,  and  hence  becomes  a  weed,  compara- 
tively harmless,  but  at  the  same  time  useless,  while  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  it  may  supply  in  its  brief  life  as  a  weed 
among  cultivated  crops  is  not  worth  mentioning. 

Like  most  other  good  things,  and  we  might  add  good 
people,  it  has  its  faults.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the  sea- 
son cattle  take  the  larger  clovers  and  other  cultivated  grasses 


48  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

in  preference,  probably  on  account  of  some  particular  flavoi 
-which  they  prefer.  'This  objection,  however,  is  speedily 
•overcom-e  as  the  seaspn  progresses,  and  it  is  never  found  that 
a  crop  of  white  clover  is  necessarily  wasted.  Another  and 
more  serious  objection  is  that  in  certain  seasons,  and  par- 
ticularly during  the  months  when  the  seed  is  ripening,  it  is 
believed  to  slobber  stock, particularly  horses  and  occasionally 
hogs,  the  so-called  salivation  being  believed  to  be  produced 
by  the  supposed  pungent  character  of  the  seeds.  It  is,  how- 
ever, extremely  doubtful  whether  the  white  clover  is  justly 
blamed  for  this  result.  If  the  salivation  is  produced  by  the 
seeds  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  seeds  of  the  other 
•clovers  are  equally  to  blame.  It  is  at  least  possible  that  the 
clobbering  is  due  to  wild  plants  in  the  pasture.  The  whole 
subject  should  be  thoroughly  investigated  by  the  various 
Experiment  Stations.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however,  that 
whatever  may  be  the  objections  of  farmers  on  this  question, 
they  always  disappear  \vith  the  first  season  of  real  drouth. 
The  same  objections  made  to  this  plant  ten  or  fifteen  years 
ago  from  the  State  of  Iowa  now  come  to  us  from  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  where  it  is  being  introduced  as  a  grass  essential  to 
the  permanent  pastures.  It  might  be  well  to  remark  that  in 
Scotland  where  it  has  been  grown  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years,  many  of  the  best  authorities  claim  that  the  proportion 
•of  white  clover  in  a  good  permanent  pasture  should  be  kept 
up  to  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  total  grasses.  This 
fact  shows  the  high  favor  in  which  white  clover  stands  where 
it  has  been  cultivated  the  longest.  Farmers,  therefore,  in 
the  newer  parts  of  the  West  should  not  hesitate  to  sow  it, and 
more  especially  as  but  little  seed,  a  pound  or  two  r5er  acre, 
is  all  that  is  necessary.  This  will  not  only  seed  the  ground 
in  a  year  or  two,  but  the  seeds  will  be  carried  by  birds  and 
;live  stock  into  all  parts  of  the  farm  and  adjoining  farms,  and 
Avill  spread  over  the  adjoining  country  until  it  ceases  to 
be  necessary  to  seed  at  all,  even  where  a  stand  in  connec- 
tion with  blue  grass  is  desired.  The  seeds  are  about  one- 
third  the  size  of  those  of  the  red  and  mammoth  clover  and 
hence  the  small  amount  per  acre  above  suggested. 

When  it  is  desired  to  sow  white  clover  as  a  part  of  the 
permanent  pasture,  it  is  always  best  to  sow  it  witii  as  great  a 
variety  of  grass  seed  as  possible,  and  the  mixture  should 
include  varieties  that  will  for  the  first  year  or  two  give  an 
abundance  of  forage.  If  we  were  making  a  permanent  pas- 
ture in  which  white  clover  was  expected  to  bear  a  prominent 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  4g 

part,  we  would  sow  red  and  mammoth  clover  in  about  equal 
prop9rtions,  the  usual  amount  of  timothy,  more  or  less  blue 
grass,  and,  south  of  latitude  42,  more  or  less  orchard  grass,, 
and  on  all  wet  lands  and  sloughs  in  dry  lands,  we  would  sow- 
alsike  clover.  The  reason  for  this  suggestion  is  that  the  blue- 
grass,  which  forms  a  prominent  part  in  all  permanent  pas- 
tures where  it  does  well,  can  not  be  expected  to  be  ready  to 
completely  occupy  the  ground  inside  of  three  years.  Dur- 
ing this  time  the  land  should  be  producing  to  its  full  capacity 
and  hence  should  be  occupied  by  the  larger  clovers  and  other 
grasses  which  can  afford  less  resistance  to  the  growth  of  blue 
grass  than  white  clover  would  if  a  full  stand  were  sown  with 
it.  This  subject  will  be  more  fully  discussed  when  we  come 
to  speak  in  detail  of  grass  mixtures  suitable  for  different  ro- 
tations and  parts  of  a  rotation. 

In  sowing  the  smaller  seeds  such  as  blue  grass  and  white 
clover  the  depth  of  covering  which  is  so  necessary  for  the 
larger  clovers  in  a  light  soil  and  a  dry  climate  is  not  required.. 
It  is  not  safe,  however,  in  the  drier  and  lighter  soils  to  trust 
to  surface  sowing,  and  white  clover,  while  it  grows  when, 
seeded  naturally  on  the  surface,  yet  has  the  advantage  of  the 
freezing  and  thawing  of  the  soil  in  winter  to  enable  it  to  im- 
bed itself  in  the  soil.  This  Imbedding  on  land  under  tillage^, 
such  as  is  necessary  for  grain  crops  can  be  secured  by  the  use 
of  a  common  smoothing  harrow  and  it  were  better  still  if  this 
were  followed  by  a  light  brush  harrow,  or,  where  the  condi- 
tions are  suitable,  light  rolling. 

One  of  the. varieties  most  recently  introduced  into  the 
West  is  alsike  or  Swedish  clover,  (irifoliitm  hybridum,}  an, 
illustration  of  which  will  be  found  on  the  following  page.  Its 
botanical  name  (liybridum}  was  given  by  the  early  botanisU. 
Linnseus,  who  believed  it  to  be  a  cross  or  hybrid  between  the 
white  and  the  red.  This,  however,  has  long  since  been  dis- 
covered  to  be  a  mistake.  It  is  a  distinct  species,  native  over 
a  large  part  of  Europe,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  first  cul- 
tivated in  Sweden,  deriving  its  name  from  the  village  oi 
Syke  in  that  country.  It  was  first  introduced  into  Englandi 
in  1834  and  into  Germany  in  1854,  where  it  is  said  to  be  large*- 
ly  grown  not  only  for  its  forage  but  also  for  the  seed.  Our 
attention  was  first  called  to  it  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,. 
We  instructed  the  tenant  on  one  of  our  farms  to  sow  some* 
fowl  meadow  grass,  (pea  serotina]  on  a  small  patch  of  wet  bot- 
tom land, and  to  sow  a  small  quantity  of  alsike  for  experiment: 
on  a  piece  of  dry,  corn  land.  Instead  he  sowed  the  two  together 


50 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


ALSIKE.     (.  Tri folium  hybrid  it  m . ) 


CLOVER  CUIvTURE.  51 

on  the  wet  land,  and  the  seed  of  the  fowl  meadow  proving 
worthless  and  so  reported,  we  paid  no  further  attention  to  the 
plot  until  a  year  later,  when,  driving  near  it,  our  attention 
was  called  to  the  hum  of  the  bees  apparently  among  the 
slough  grass  surrounding  the  patch.  We  found  on  examina- 
tion that  the  alsike  was  growing  luxuriantly  and  was  a  favo- 
rite with  the  bees,  and  it  then  occurred  to  us  that  we  had 
thus  accidentally  found  the  grass  for  wet  sloughs  that  would 
not,  at  the  prices  of  tile  in  that  locality,  pay  for  drainage  and 
yet  should  be  made  productive  in  some  way.  We  therefore 
began  sowing  alsike  as  an  experiment  at  the  heads  of  sloughs 
and  learned,  after  the  experience  of  a  year  or  two,  that  an 
excellent  stmd  could  be  secured  by  burning  offthe  slough  grass 
in  the  fall,  sowing  the  seed  in  March  and  then  mowing  the 
slough  early  in  June  in  order  to  allow  the  alsike  abundance  of 
air  and  sunlight.  We  have  ever  since  recommended  it 
through  the  Homestead  and  it  is  now  sown  quite  extensively 
especially  east  of  the  grand  divide  in  Iowa,  and  where  our 
farmers  find  it  difficult  to  secure  a  profitable  crop  of  anything 
else  from  the  sloughs  so  common  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

Alsike  differs  from  both  the  red  and  mammoth  and  the 
white.  It  grows,  when  supported  by  other  grasses,  taller  than 
the  red  but  not  so  tall  as  the  mammoth  and  is  more  slender 
in  the  stalk,  more  succulent  and  hence  makes  even^better 
hay.  It  has  fuller  heads,  on  long  stems  and  intermediate  in 
size  between  the  white  and  red.  It  differs  from  the  white  in 
its  habits  of  growth,  the  stalks  when  lying  down  not  throw- 
ing out  rootlets  at  different  points,  and  hence  it  is  unable  to 
stand  extreme  drouth,  and  does  not  succeed  well  on  the  drier 
lands.  It  partakes  in  its  root  growth  somewhat  of  the  habits 
of  both  the  red  and  the  white,  throwing  down,  in  connection 
with  its  main  root,  similar,  but  not  so  long  as  the  red,  a 
number  of  fibrous  roots.  Its  seed  differs  in  color  both  from 
the  white  and  the  red,  but  in  size  is  similar  to  the  white.  Like 
the  white  it  is  a  perennial.  It  spends  its  main  strength  on  the 
production  of  the  seed  crop  and  throws  up  but  little  aftermath 
in  dry  ground  or  in  a  dry  season.  It  is,  therefore,  peculiarly 
adapted  to  marsh  lands,  swales,  sloughs  and  bottoms  subject 
to  overflow,  succeeding  in  lands  of  this  character  better  than 
any  clover  as  yet  introduced,  but  on  the  whole  inferior  to  red 
or  mammoth  for  lands  capable  of  regular  cultivation,  or  what 
in  the  west  are  termed  "corn  lands, "and  inferior  to  the  white 
on  the  high,  dry  soils.  Like  all  the  clovers  it  does  best  on 
calcareous  or  carboniferous  soils.  Like  the  white,  when  once 


52  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

introduced,  its  seed  stays  in  the  ground.     In  the  fall  of  1891 
we   plowed  under   a  bottom   field  of  alsike.     On  account  of 
continuous    rains  in  the  spring  of  1892,  corn  planting  was 
necessarily   delayed   and  by  the  loth  of  June  the  entire  field 
was  covered  with  a  rank  growth  of  alsike  that  had  grown  up 
from  the  seed  that  had  been  lying  in  the  soil.   We  have  known 
lands  that  have  been  overflowed  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time 
to  destroy  »all  the  tame  grasses,  covered,  after  the  waters  had 
receded,  with  a  vigorous  growth  of  alsike,  the  seeding  of  for- 
mer crops.    The  value  of  alsike,  therefore,  lies  in  its  adaptation 
to  lands,  whether  bottom,  marsh  or  slough,  which  on  account 
of   lack    of  drainage    or  possible  drainage  facilities,  are  not 
capable  of  cultivation  in  regular  rotation  and  will  not  produce 
profitable  crops  of  other  tame  grasses.     On  lands  of  this  kind 
it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  secure  a  stand  on  the   following 
plan:      First,  burn  off,   the  fall  preceding,    all  wild  grasses 
that  may  have  grown  on  the  land.  In  March  of  the  following 
year  sow  from  four  to  five  pounds  of  alsike,  mixing  the  seed 
with  sand  so  as  to  secure  an  even  cast.     Then  either  pasture 
closely  or  else  early  in  June  mow  off  whatever  grass  may  be 
growing  on  it,  first  leveling  the  ant  hills  and  removing  what- 
ever obstructions  to  the  mower  that  may    exist.     This    will 
secure  light  and  air  to  the  young  plants  and  the  entire   crop 
of  alsike  and  wild  grass  may  be  mown  in  the  fall  as  a  grass 
crop.     The  next  year,  unless  either  the  land  or  the  season  be 
very  wet,  but  little  will  remain  save  the  alsike,  which  may  be 
used  either  as  a  hay  crop  or  for  seed.     The  effect  of  seeding  in 
this  manner  will  be  somewhat  surprising.    On  wet  lands  where 
the  coarser  varieties  of  slough  grass  grow,   the  growth  of  the 
alsike  will  be  accompanied  by  the  decay  of  the  roots  of  the 
coarser  grasses,  they  being  smothered  out  by  the  rank  growth 
of  the  alsike.     This  will  have  the  effect  in  time  of  allowing  the 
water  to  sink  away  that  has  heretofore  been  held  by  the  mass  of 
roots  of  the  wild  grass,  and  especially  if  the  land  be  pastured  after 
the  first  and  second  year' s  mowing,  the  entire  surface  will  be  com- 
pacted by  the  tramping  of  cattle,  and  if  a  slough,  the  water  con- 
fined to  the  center.  It  will  then  be  possible  inthe  course  of  two  or 
three  years  to  sow  white  or  red  clover  or  blue  grass,  the  result 
of  drier  conditions.     In  fact,  we  know  of  no  way  ot  reducing 
the  width  of  a  slough  and  limiting  it  to  a  narrow  channel  so- 
effective  as  sowing  with    alsike  and    treating  in  the  manner 
above  indicated. 

We    are  not    advised  as  to  the  climatic  range  of  alsike 
clover.     Manifestly  its    cultivation  is  not  practicable  in  the 


CULTURE  53 

drier  Western  states, nor  is  it  likely  to  be  very  popular  where 
dry  draws  take  the  place  of  sloughs.  The  fact  that  it  was 
first  cultivated  in  Sweden  indicates  that  its  northern  limit  will 
be  beyond  that  of  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers.  It  is  worthy 
of  experiment  as  far  South  as  the  carboniferous  and  calcare- 
ous soils  extend,  and  anywhere  in  the  region  covered  by  the 
drift  when  there  is  sufficient  moisture.  It  is  not  likely  to  be 
in  favor  in  the  Eastern  states,  nor  do  we  recommend  it  on 
well-drained  soils  anywhere,  as  under  these  condition's  red 
clo.ver  or  mammoth  would  be  preferable.  Within  the  limits 
indicated,  fanners  who  allow  their  wetter  lands  to  grow  up  in 
coarse  slough  grass  or  their  sloughs  to  become  an  eye-sore 
either  through  lack  of  ability  or  unwillingness  to  drain,  will 
find  it  greatly  to  their  advantage  to  sow  them  to  alsike,  thus 
drying  and  narrowing  them  and  preparing  the  way  for  blue 
grass,  t  mothy  and  other  clovers. 

Wherever  farmers  keep  Italian  bees,  which  everyone 
should  for  the  purpose  of  fertilizing  red  clover  if  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  procuring  the  one  pure  sweet,  distilled  by  Nature  her- 
self, they  should  sow  or  induce  their  near  neighbors  to  sow 
a  few  acres  of  alsike  clover  even  on  lands  that  will  produce  a 
greater  crop  of  red  or  mammoth  clover.  As  a  honey  plant 
it  probably  has  no  superior.  In  addition  to  this  it  should, 
whether  on  dry  or  wet  land,  form  an  ingredient  in  the  mixture 
for  hog  pastures,  if  for  nothing  else  than  for  the  sake  of  great- 
er variety  and  more  continuous  bloom.  When  sown  with  other 
grasses,  it  should  be  given  the  same  covering  suggested  in 
the  former  part  of  this  chapter  for  white  clover.  It  is,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  above,  a  special-purpose  grass.  The  illus- 
tration on  page  50  will  enable  our  readers  to  identify  it 
readily. 


MINOR  VARIETIES  OF  THE  CLOVERS, 


CAHPTER  VI. 

While  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers  (trtfolium pratense) 
the  alfalfa  (medicago  sativa)  the  white  or  Dutch  clover  {tri- 
folium  repens)  and  the  alsike  (trifolium  hybridum)  are  the  clo- 
vers most  valuable  in  the  eastern,  northern  and  north-western 
states,  there  are  a  number  of  other  varieties  of  no  little  local 
value.  Some  of  these  will  grow  in  what  is  usually  known 
as  the  "corn  and  grass  belt,"  but  being  inferior  to  the  varie- 
ties just  mentioned,  are  properly  neglected  or  regarded  as 
weeds.  Of  these  is  the  melilotus  alba,  commonly  known  as 
sweet  clover,  which  can  be  found  growing  in  gardens,  whence 
it  escapes  to  the  highway,  vacant  lots,  especially  in  cities,  and 
to  neglected  fields.  A  sub  variety  of  it  is  known  as  Bokhara 
clover.  It  grows  to  the  height  of  six  or  eight  feet  on  good 
land  when  not  cropped,  and  its  only  value,  on  lands  that  will 
grow  red  or  mammoth  clover  profitably  is  as  bee  pasture.  For 
this  purpose  it  will  pay  apiarians  to  sow  it  along  the  road- 
sides or  in  the  vacant  corners  and  other  neglected  lands.  In 
the  drier  portions  of  the  West  and  in  the  South  this  clover 
has  very  considerable  value.  It  is  proving  a  valuable  forage 
plant  and  also  one  of  the  renovating  crops  greatly  needed  in 
some  of  the  more  southern  states.  An  illustration  of  this 
variety  will  be  found  on  next  page.  Trials  at  the  Mississippi 
Agricultural  College  and  by  planters  in  that  state  seem  to 
have  established  this  fact  beyond  question.  Like  all  the 
other  clovers  it  has  the  capacity  of  appropriating  nitrogen 
from  the  atmosphere  and  thus  enriching  the  land  and  prepar- 
ing it  for  the  profitable  production  of  other  crops.  Where  it 
has  been  found  impossible  to  grow  the  better  varieties  of  clo- 
ver it  is  worthy  of  trial,  and  experiment  stations  in  those 
states  where  the  better  varieties  are  not  a  success  should 
make  a  still  more  careful  and  thorough  investigation  of  its 
merits. 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


55 


SWEET  CLOVER.     (Melilotm  alba.) 


56  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

Scarlet  o&  crimson  clover.  Within  the  last  few  years 
a  good  deal  has  been  said  in  the  eastern  and  southern  papers 
with  reference  to  scarlet  or  crimson  clQver  (trifolium  incarna- 
tum}  an  illustration'of  which  may  be  found  on  next  page.  This 
is  sown  in  midsummer  or  early  autumn,  and  blooms,  in  the 
latitude  to  which  it  is  adapted,  early  in  May.  It  grows  from 
twenty  inches  to  twenty-eight  inches  in  height,  and  is  harvested 
in  time  to  prepare  the  ground  for  another  crop.  It  has  a 
long  slender  head  brilliant  scarlet  in  color  and  yields  large 
crops  which  can  be  cut  from  the  tenth  of  May  to  the  first  of 
June,  according  to  the  latitude.  The  Delaware  Experiment 
station  has  recently  been  carrying  on  experiments  with  a  view 
of  determining  the  value  of  this  crop  and  reports  that  it  yields 
easily  eight  tons  of  green  fodder  per  acre,  if  cut  between  the 
5th  and  loth  of  May,  that  its  roots  run  down  four  feet  in 
favorable  locations  and  that  it  is  superior  to  the  ordinary  red 
or  mammoth  clover  in  two  respects:  i.  Its  ability  to  flourish 
on  relatively  poor  soils.  2.  Its  capacity  for  growth  during 
the  tall,  spring  and  in  open  winters.  It  also  reports  that  it  can 
not  be  seeded  with  winter  grain  owing  to  the  fact  that  it 
grows  when  winter  wheat  or  rye  seem  dormant  and  as  the 
result,  one  crop  or  the  other  would  be  destroyed.  -It  is 
specially  valuable  for  soiling  and  for  plowing  under  as  a 
green  crop  instead  of  rye.  European  writers  mention  five 
varieties  of  this  clover,  differing  to  some  extent  from  each 
other  in  their  relative  powers  to  withstand  winter  conditions, 
and  it  may  be  that  some  variety  may  yet  be  introduced  that 
will  be  able  to  withstand  the  rigours  of  a  northern  winter. 
Until  this  is  done  the  crimson  of  scarlet  clover  must  be 
regarded  as  a  crop  especially  adapted  to  the  southern  and  bor- 
der states.  We  tried  it  one  year,  on  our  own  farms  in  south- 
ern Iowa,  sowing  after  harvest  on  wheat  stubble,  and  the  next 
spring  we  failed  to  find  a  single  stalk  that  had  survived  the  win- 
ter. Similar  experiments  were  made  at  the  Iowa  Agricultural 
College,  and  in  Ifcinois  in  the  latitude  of  North  Missouri,  so 
that  any  variety  vknown  in  America  must  be  regarded  as 
.adapted  only  to  the  latitudes  of  the  southern  border  states. 
Having  the  same  power  of  appropriating  nitrogen  from  the 
atmosphere,  it  will  no  doubt  prove  of  great  value  where  its 
cultivation  is  practical,  and  especially  to  truck  farmers  who 
after  the  removal  of  their  crop  can  sow  the  land  to  clover  and 
plow  it  lender  or  use  it  for  hay  and  turn  the  roocs  in  time  for 
a  profitable  crop  on  the  same  land  next  season. 

Our    object  in  experimenting    with  it  was  to   ascertain 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


57. 


SCARLET  OR  CRIMSON  CLOVER.  (  Trifolium  incarnatum. ) 


58  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

whether  the  Western  farmer  could  sow  it  in  his  corn  fiefds  at 
the  last  plowing  or  on  the  stubble  after  harvest  and  turn  the 
crop  under  in  time  for  a  crop  of  corn  the  next  year.  If  some 
variety. could  be  procured  that  would  endure  the  northern 
winters  this  might  be  done,  and  it  would  then  prove  of  great 
value  in  sections  of  the  West  whore  corn  is  the  leading  crop 
and  where  it  is  necessary  to  supply  nitrogen  at  a  very  cheap 
rate.  The  amount  of  seed  necessary  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  pounds  per  acre,  which  should  be  sown  broadcast  and 
-covered  the  same  depth  at  which  red  or  mammoth  clover  suc- 
ceeds best  in  the  latitude  where  it  is  sown. 

Japan  Clover,  (Lespedeza  striata.)  In  some  unknown 
way  there  was  introduced  a  variety  of  clover  into  the  South 
Atlantic  States  from  Japan  about  forty-five  years  ago  that  has 
proved  of  no  little  economic  value,  known  as  Japan  clover, 
(Lespedeza  striata,}  an  illustration  of  which  will  be  found  on 
next  page.  It.  was  little  noticed  before  the  late  civil  war,  but 
during  the  war  it  extended  south  and  west  and  has  spread 
rapidly  over  a  large  district  of  country,  especially  along  road- 
sides, in  abandoned  fields  and  in  open  woods.*  Like  nearly 
all  clovers  in  climates  oi  great  and  long  continued  summer 
heat,  whether  the  rainfall  be  deficient  or  not,  it  is  an  annual, 
growing  up  .every  spring,  and  is  killed  by  frost  in  the  fall. 
The  seeds  begin  to  ripen  about  the  ist  of  August  and  con- 
tinue to  mature  until  the  close  of  the  season.  .  It  reproduces 
itself  from  seed  on  the  same  ground  year  after  year,  and 
hence  by  mistake  has  frequently  been  regarded  as  a  peren- 
nial. It  will  grow  on  poor  soils,  but  prefers  clay,  and  only 
on  rich  bottom  lands  does  it  obtain  size  sufficient  to  justify 
cutting  it  for  hay.  It  may  be  found  in  the  situations  above 
mentioned  in  many  of  the  Southern  states,  driving  out  broom 
sedge  and  even  Bermuda  or  Johnson  grass  in  some  localities, 
but  it  does  not  withstand  drouth  so  weli  as  the  Bermuda.  It 
is  likewise  easily  killed  by  froSt.  It  has  proven  a  great  bless- 
ing to  the  Southern  farmers,  a  good  Samaritan,  providing  its 
own  charges,  sowing  itself  wherev**  there  is  an  abandoned 
field  and  thus  binding  up  the  broken-hearted  land.  It  ranges 
from  the  Atlantic  Coast  .to  Tennessee,  Mis^LJp^i,  Alabama, 
Georgia  and  as  far  West  as  north-eastern  Texas. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  ito  over-estimate  ttie  economic 
value  of  this  plant  to  the  Southern  farmer^  and  it  is  only 
since  the  recent  discoveries  of  the  power  which  all  clovers 
and  all  legumes  possess  of  fixing  nitrogen  in  the  soil  by  ap- 
propriating it  from  the  atmosphere  and  storing  it  in  the  soil 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


JAPAN  CLOVER.     (Lespidcza  striata.} 


60  CUJV^K  CULTURE. 

that  its  value  has  become  fully  understood,  even  by  the  most 
intelligent  farmers.  Any  plant  that  will  of  its  own  accord 
restore  the  wastes  of  the  soil,  robber  must  grow  in  popular  es- 
timation year  after  year.  It  should  be  sown  at  the  rate  of 
half  a  bushel  to  the  acre  and  covered  to  a  depth  sufficient  to 
give  it  the  same  degree  of  light,  heat  and  moisture  which  it 
secures  when  self-sown  on  uncultivated  fields  or  commons. 
It  must  ever  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  seeds  on  loose,  well- 
cultivated  soils  require  a  deeper  covering  than  when  self- 
sown  on  unplowed  land. 

Bur  Clover.  (Medicago  denticulata.}  This  clover  is 
next  in  economic  importance,  and  grows  largely  in  California. 
This,  too,  is  a  foreigner,  which  was  early  introduced  in  that 
state,  and  has  given  itself  a  wide  distribution,  having  spread 
over  the  lower  lands  in  the  southern  and  central  counties  and 
on  some  of  the  high  lands  as  well.  It  has  also  been  tried 
with  success  in  some  parts  of  Texas  and  Mississippi.  We 
have  seen  thousands  of  sheep  feeding  in  mid-summer  on  lands 
in  California  apparently  almost  as  bate  as  the  highway.  The 
sheep  seemed.  10  be  in  good  condition,  and  by  inquiry  we 
found  they  were  feeding  on  the  seeds  of  the  bur  clover.  The 
seed  remaining  begins  to  grow  with  the  winter  rains  and 
hence  this  clover  furnishes  a  winter  pasture  in  the  leaves  and 
a  summer  pasture  in  the  seeds.  The  only  objection  that  can 
be  made  to  it  as  a  forage  plant  for  sheep  is  that  the  seeds  be- 
ing in  the  form  of  burs,  (hence  the  popular  name,)  injures  the 
market  value  of  the  wool  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  Bur  clo- 
ver, like  the  white,  of  the  northern  states,  has  a  growing 
mate  \n\he  alfilaria  (erodium  cicutarium\  pronounced  al-fi-la- 
res,  the  local  name  being  stork's  bill,  pin  clover,  pin  grass  and 
filaria.  The  alfilaria  is  neither  a  grass  nor  a  clover,  but  be- 
longs to  the  geranium  family  and  the  two  grow  together  for 
the  same  reason  that  white  clover  and  blue  grass  are  a  wedded 

Eair,  bound  together  by  a  tie  which  no  court  can  dissolve,  the 
ur  clover  evidently  supplying  the  alfilaria  with  nitrogen. 

A  closely  related  variety  of  bur  clover  ( medicago  maculata) 
is  found  in  Western  Nebraska,  and  no  doubt  over  other  por- 
tions of  the  plain  region.  Nature  is  careful  in  her  distribu- 
tion of  the  legumes,  and  especially  of  the  clovers,  and  provides 
some  variety  of  this  invaluable  plant  for  almostevery  soil  and 
climate. 

Besides  the  foreign  species  above  enumerated,  there  are 
in  the  United  States  some  forty  species  of  native  clovers,  most 
of  them  belonging  to  the  Pacific  Slope  and  the  mountain 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  61 

and  a  few  belonging  to  the  southern  states  and  the 
plains.  These  clovers  are  mostly  annuals.  We  give  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  the  most  prominent  of  them  taken  from 
the  report  of  Dr.  Geo.  Vasey,  botanist  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  for  the  year  1886,  with  illustrations  showing  the 
varieties  described,  which  will  be  found  at  the  conclusion  of 
this  chapter: 

TRIFOLIUM  FUCATUM. 

This  is  one  of  the  largest  and  strongest  growing  of  our 
native  kinds,  and  is  'found  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Under  favor- 
able circumstances  it  attains  a  height  of  two  or  three  ieet. 
The  stem  is  decumbent,  smooth,  thick,  and  juicy.  The  stip- 
ules at  the  base  of  the  leaf  are  half  an  inch  to  an  inch  long, 
ovate,  broad, and  clasping  the  stem.  The  leaves  are  trifoliate, 
with  stems  or  petioles  three  to  six  inches  long;  the  leaflets 
vary  from  roundish  or  oblong  to  obovate,  thickish,  strongly 
veined,  three-fourths  of  an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  long, 
and  with  numerous  small,  sharp  teeth  on  the  margins.  The 
flower  heads  are  large  (one  to  two  inches  in  diameter),  larger 
than  those  of  the  common  red  clover  on  naked  peduncles 
(stems),  which  are  longer  than  the  leaf-stalks  (sometimes  five 
to  six  inches  long).  There  is  a  conspicuous  green  involucre 
surrounding  the  base  of  the  flower  head  deeply  divided  into 
seven  to  nine  ovate,  entire,  and  pointed  lobes,  which  are 
about  half  as  long  as  the  flowers.  The  heads  contain  com- 
paratively few  flowers  (about  eight  to  ten), but  these  are  about 
an  inch  long,  thick  and  inflated,  the  calyx  about  one-fourth 
as  long  as  the  carolla,  which  varies  from  pink  to  purple  in 
zolor.  Mr.  S.  Watson,  in  the  "Botany  of  California,"  says 
Df  this:  UA  common  species  in  the  Coast  Ranges  and  in  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  through  the  length  of  the  * 
State — in  soine  places  very  abundant  and  affording  good 
pasturage."  It  would  seem  very  desirable  that  this  species 
should  be  given  a  fair  trial  in  cultivation. 

TRIFOLIUM  MEG  ACEP-H  ALUM  (Large-headed  clover). 

Alow  species,  seldom  reaching  a  foot  in  height,  but 
robust  and  with  strong,  deeply  penetrating  roots.  A  number 
of  stalks  usually  proceed  from  one  root,  but  these  stems  are 
unbranching,  somewhat  hairy,  and  terminate  with  a  single 
large  head.  The  leaves  mostly  proceed  from  the  base  of  the 
stem,  there  usually  being  but  one  pair  on  the  stalk  near  the 
middle.  The  lowest  leaves  are  long-stalked,  and  with  five  or 
seven  leaflets  instead  of  three,  as  in  most  clovers,  but  the 
upper  ones  are  sometimes  reduced  to  three  leaflets.  The 


62  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

leaflets  are  an  inch  long  or  less,  somewhat  wedge-shaped  or 
obovate  and  blunt  at  the  apex,  and  with  very  fine,  sharp  teeth 
on  the  edge.  The  stipules  at  the  base  of  the  leaves  are  large, 
mostly  ovate  in  form,  and  sharply  toothed  or  deeply  cut.  The 
heads  are  mostly  terminal,  about  one  and  one-half  inches 
long,  on  a  naked  peduncle,  and  without  an  involucre.  The 
flowers  are  large,  purplish,  about  an  inch  long, and  very  com- 
pact and  spicate  in  the  head.  The  calyx  with  its  long, 
plumose  teeth,  is  half  as  long  as  the  corolla.  This  species 
l^rows  in  the  mountain  region  of  California,  Oregon,  Wash- 
ington Territory,  Nevada,  and  Montana.  It  is  not  as  large 
as  the  common  red  clover,  but  experiments  are  needed  to 
determine  its  possibilities  for  pasturage.  Its  large,  showy 
heads  and  its  peculiar  leaves  would  make  it  an  interesting 
ornamental  species. 

TRIFOUUM  INVOLUCRATUM. 

This  is  an  annual  species,  presenting  a  great  variety  of 
form,  but  under  favorable  circumstances  reaching  one  and 
one-half  or  two  feet  in  height  and  of  vigorous  growth.  The 
stems  are  usually  decumbent  and  branching  below,  very 
leafy,  and  terminating  with  one  to  three  heads  on  rather  long 
peduncles.  The  leaves  are  on  stalks  longer  than  the  leaflets, 
-which  are  in  threes,  one-half  to  one  inch  long,  of  an  oblong  or 
obovate  form,  smooth,  and  with  very  fine,  sharp  teeth  on  the 
margins.  The  stipules  are  large,  ovate,  or  lanceolate,  and 
usually  much  gashed  or  deeply  toothed.  The  heads  are  long- 
stalked,  about  an  inch  long,  the  purplish  flowers  closely 
crowded,  and  surrounded  with  an  involucre,  which  is  divided 
into  numerous  long-toothed  lobes.  The  flowers  are  half  to 
three-fourths  of  an  inch  long,  slender,  with  a  short,  striate 
oalyx,  the  teeth  of  which  are  very  slender,  entire,  and  pointed, 
and  little  shorter  than  the  corolla.  This  species  has  a  wide 
range  of  growth  in  the  western  part  of  the  continent,  pre- 
vailing from  Mexico  to  British  America  through  the  moun- 
tain districts.  Under  cultivation  it  would  probably  produce 
a  good  yield  of  fodder,  but  has  never  been  subjected  to  experi- 
ment so  far  as  known.  * 

TRIFOUUM  STOLONIFERUM  (Running  buffalo  clover). 

This  is  a  perennial  species,  growing  about  a  foot  high; 
long  runners  are  sent  out  from  the  base,  whicK  are  procum- 
bent at  first,  becoming  erect.  The  leaves  are  all  at  the  base, 
except  one  pair  at  the  upper  part  of  the  stem.  The  root 
leaves  are  long-stalked,  and  have  three  thinnish  obovate 
leaflets,  which  are  minutely  toothed.  The  pair  of  leaves  on 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  63 

the  stem  have  the  stalk  about  as  long  as  the  leaflets,  which 
are  about  one  inch  long.  The  stipules  are  ovate  or  lanceo- 
late, pointed,  and  entire  on  the  margins,  the  lower  ones  nearly 
an  inch  long,  the  upper  ones  about  half  as  long.  There  are 
but  one  or  two  heads  on  each  stem  at  the  summit,  each  on  a 
peduncle  longer  than  the  leaves.  The  heads  are  about  an 
inch  in  diameter,  rather  loosely  flowered,  each  flower  being 
on  a  short,  slender  pedicel,  or  stem,  which  bends  backward  at 
maturity.  Each  flower  has  a  long- toothed  calyx  about  half  as 
long  as  the  corolla,  which  is  white  tinged  with  purple.  This 
species  is  found  in  rich,  open  wood-lands  and  in  prairies  in 
Ohio,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  and  westward.  It  is  smaller  in 
size  and  less  vigorous  in  growth  than  the  common  red  clover. 

TRIFOLIUM  CAROLINANUM  (Southern  clover). 
A  small  perennial  clover,  having  much  resemblance  to  the 
common  white  clover.  It  usually  grows  from  six  to  ten  inches 
high,  somewhat  pubescent,  the  stems  slender,  procumbent, 
and  branching.  The  leaves  are  trifoliate,  on  petioles  of 
variable  length.  The  leaflets  are  about  half  an  inch  long, 
obovate,  wedge-shaped  at  base,  and  somewhat  notched  at  the 
summit.  The  stipules  are  nearly  as  long  as  the  leaflets,  ovate 
or  lanceolate,  and  slightly  toothed  above.  Bach  stalk  has 
usually  two  long-stalked  heads,  proceeding  from  the  upper 
joints.  The  roundish  heads  are  from  one-half  to  three-fourths 
of  an  inch  in  diameter,  without  an  involucre, and  with  numer- 
ous crowded,  small  flowers  on  slender  pedicels,  which  become 
reflexed  in  age.  The  long  lanceolate  teeth  of  the  calyx  are 
slightly  shorter  than  the  small,  purplish,  pointed  corolla. 
The  pods  are  ususlly  four-seeded.  This  species  occurs  in  all 
the  Southern  States  and  in  Texas.  It  is  too  small  to  be  valu- 
able for  fodder,  but  is  worthy  of  trial  as  a  constituent  of  pas- 
tures in  the  South. 


64 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


( Trifolium  fucatu  />/.) 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


65 


LARGE  HEADED  CLOVER.     (Trifottittn  megacephalum.) 


66 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


( Trifolium  tnvolucratum. ) 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


67 


RUNNING'BUFFALO  CLOVER.     (  Trifotiuui  stoloniferum. 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


SOUTHERN   CLOVER.  (TrifoUum   Carolinanum.) 


PRACTICAL  CLOVER  GROWING. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

In  previous  chapters  we  have  described  the  general  range 
of  the  clovers,  and  discussed  somewhat  in  detail  the  varieties 
usually  grown  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  In  this 
we  take  up  the  best  methods  of  practical  management.  These 
methods  will  vary  in  different  localities,  often  in  the  same 
neighborhood,  and  on  the  same  farm.  The  first  question 
for  the  farmer  to  decide  is  the  variety  or  varieties  he  can  use 
with  profit  in  his  latitude  and  longitude,  and  in  connection 
with  the  system  of  farming  which  he  has  adopted.  While  it 
is  well  for  the  enterprising  farmer  to  experiment  with  new 
varieties,  but  always  on  a  small  scale,  it  is  folly  to  devote  any 
considerable  part  of  his  farm  to  a  variety  that  has  not  been  found 
entirely  reliable  and  reasonably  well  adapted  to  his  section  of 
the  country  and  to  his  system  of  farming.  By  4 'entirely  reli- 
able" we  do  not  mean  a  variety  that  will  grow  well  enough 
in  an  occasional  wet  year,  or  that  will  survive  an  unusually 
mild  winter,  but  one  that  can  be  depended  upon  from  year  to 
year  as  a  part  of  a  regular  rotation.  While  latitude  and  lon- 
gitude must  always  be  taken  into  account,  the  rainfall,  the 
rotation  and  the  nature  of  the  soil  must  be  considered  as  well. 

The  next  thing  to  be  determined  is  the  object  in  view  in 
growing  clovers.  If  the  object  is  to  secure  hay  and  fall  pas- 
ture, and  store  up  fertility  for  future  crops  of  corn  and  other 
grain,  his  reliance  in  all  sections  where  it  is  a  sure  crop,  must 
be  on  the  common  red  clover.  If  his  object  be  mainly  fertil- 
ity in  connection  with  a  cash  crop  of  clover  seed,  then  the 
mammoth  should  have  the  preference.  If  the  object  be  pas- 
ture as  an  ultimate  end,  to  be  grown  year  after;  year,  on  the 
same  land,  and  always  ready  to  be -plowed  under  for  a  corn 


70  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

crop,  should  circumstances  seem  to  justify  it,  then  he  can  use 
to  advantage  in  the  North,  both  the  red  and  the  mammoth; 
and,  if  his  lands  are  unusually  moist,  the  alsike.  If  he  wishes 
to  lay  down  his  lands  in  permanent  pasture,  not  to  be  broken 
up  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years,  he  can  use  all  these  and 
the  white  clover  in  addition.  If  he  is  located  in  sections 
where  the  above  varieties  are  not  reliable,  and  he  wishes  a 
permanent  clover  meadow,  or  a  crop  for  summer  soiling,  his 
main  reliance  must  be  alfalfa,  provided  always  that  he  has  a 
soil  that  is  not  immediately  underlaid  with  impervious  clay, 
gumbo,  hardpan  or  rock.  If  he  has  land  under  irrigation 
there  is  no  forage  plant  that  will  take  the  place  of  alfalfa  as  a 
permanent  meadow.  If  he  resides  in  the  mountain  or  Pacific 
coast  states  and  cannot  irrigate^  his  land,  he  must  use  the 
annuals  native  to  that  region ;  'if  in  the  extreme  Southern 
states,  his  main  reliance  must  be  on  the  Japan,  and  if  in  the 
Border  states,  where  the  winters  are  sufficiently  mild,  he  can 
use  to  great  advantage  the  crimson.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
uses  and  fitness  of  each  variety,  every  farmer  must  make  a 
selection  for  himself. 

The  object  in  view  in  growing  clovers  having  been  clear- 
ly determined  and  a  judicious  selection  made  after  a  thorough 
study  of  the  resources  of  the  country  and  of  the  particular 
farm,  the  next  practical  question  is  the  determination  of  the 
mixture  to  be  used,  either  of  the  clovers  by  themselves,  or  in 
connection  with  other  grasses.  Much  harm  has  been  done 
by  the  recommendation  by  seedsmen  and  some  agricultural 
papers,  of  grass  mixtures  selected  on  purely  theoretical 
grounds,  and  without  reference  to  the  wants  of  either  the  sec- 
tion of  the  country  or  the  individual  farmer.  Many  of  the 
mixtures  seem  to  have  been  taken  from  English  works,  and 
are  frequently  made  up  of  grasses  which-have  generally  failed 
wherever  tried  in  the  Western  states,  and  where  they  have 
succeeded,  have  proved  inferior  to  the  grasses  and  clovers  in 
common  use  that  have  been  demonstrated,  after  years  of  ex- 
perience, to  be  extremely  valuable.  All  mixtures  that  contain 
English  rye  grass,  Italian  rye  grass,  sheep's  fescue,  crested 
dog's  tail  and  such  like  grasses,  should  be  rejected,  as  there 
are  few  sections  in  the  West  in  which  these  grasses  will  stand 
either  the  extreme  cold  of  winter  or  the  extreme  heat  of  sum- 
mer. The  recommendation  'to  sow  orchard  grass,  red  top  or 
meadow  fescue  should  be  well  considered  before  purchasing 
the  seed.  These  three  latter  grasses  are  valuable  in  their 
place,  but  only  in  certain  locations  and  under  certain  condi- 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  71 

tions,  which  will  be  hereafter  described.  Always  keeping  in 
mind  the  fact  that  no  mixture  can  be  prescribed  that  will 
fit  every  modification  of  circumstances,  and  that  all  proposed 
mixtures  must  be  taken  only  as  general  suggestions  to  be 
modified  by  local  conditions,  and  sometimes  by  the  price  of 
the  various  seeds,  we  venture  to  recommend  some  mixtures 
that  will  be  found  to  be  valuable  to  farmers,  especially  in  the 
corn  and  grass  belts  of  the  West.  There  are  many  farmers 
whose  great  aim  in  growing  clover  is  to  increase  the  waning 
fertility  of  their  soil.  They  have  not  reached  the  point  where 
they  are  prepared  to  engage  in  what  is  called  in  a  vague  way, 
* 'diversified  farming."  They  have  neither  the  capital  nor 
the  experience  that  would  justify  them  in  engaging  in  stock 
growing  to  any  very  great  extent,  and  are  depending  upon 
the  sale  of  grain  for  shipment  to  the  great  markets,  to  lift  the 
mortgage  on  their  land,  usually  given  for  purchase  money. 
This  accomplished,  they  are  ready  to  build  barns,  fences, 
sheds,  plant  groves  and  sow  a  diversity  of  grasses  and  invest 
an  improved  stock.  To  these  we  suggest  the  sowing  of  mam- 
moth clover  alone  on  every  crop  of  spring  grain.  If  this  is 
sown  at  the  rate  of  twelve  pounds  per  acre,  and  covered  as 
directed  in  Chapter  III,  it  will,  in  all  ordinary  seasons,  in  a 
clover  country,  make  a  stand  that  will  furnish  pasturage  for 
the  limited  stock  on  the  farm  during  the  fall  months,  or  if 
fenced  in  common  with  the  corn  fields,  will  make  the  corn 
stalks  (which  are  seldom  used  by  this  class  of  farmers  except 
for  pasture),  doubly  valuable  as  a  winter  feed.  The  crop  can 
then  be  plowed  under  the  next  spring  in  time  for  corn.  The 
cost  will  not  ordinarily  be  more  than  $1.00  or  $1.25  per  acre, 
part  of  which  will  be  covered  by  the  fall  pasturage,  and  the 
rest  by  an  increase  of  two  bushels  per  acre  in  the  corn  crop. 
Without  definite  experiments  to  guide  us,  and  judging  from 
the  returns  of  corn  from  clover  roots  that  have  been  allowed 
to  mature  a  seed  crop  and  then  turned  under,  we  should  not 
expect  a  smaller  increase  than  from  eight  to  ten  bushels  per 
acre  the  next  year.  It  is  much  better,  however,  after  a  stand 
has  once  been  secured,  to  allow  the  crop,  after  a  reasonable 
amount  of  fall  pasturing,  to  stand  another  year,  and  then  to 
take  a  crop  of  seed  the  next  season  after  pasturing  it,  where 
it  is  practicable,  into  June  and  then  fall-plow  for  corn  the 
next  year.  Our  experience  justifies  us  in  estimating  the 
increase  in  the  next  corn  crop  at  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five 
bushels  per  acre  the  first  year,  and  not  quite  so  much  the  sec- 
ond. The  soil  will  then  be  left  in  better  condition  as  regards 


72  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

fertility  than  before  the  first  clover  was  sown.  The  crop  of 
mammoth  clover  seed,  under  these  conditions,  is  much  more 
certain  than  that  from  the  common  red,  and  an  average  yield 
would  be  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  three  bushels 
per  acre,  provided  always  that  it  is  all  secured. 

Another  class  of  farmers,  who  have  given  more  attention 
to  stock  growing  and  have  their  farms  fenced  in  separate 
fields,  desire  more  or  less  tame  hay  as  well  as  fall  pasture. 
For  these  we  recommend  the  mixture  described  below.  If  the 
rotation  they  have  adopted  be  such  that  they  can  allow  the 
land  to  rest  two  years  in  grass,  we  would  sow  a  mixture  of 
ten  pounds  of  common  red  clover  and  eight  pounds  of  timo- 
thy, sown  with  spring  grain  and  covered  to  the  depth  that  is 
found  best  in  the  soils  of  the  neighborhood,  as  explained  more 
fully  in  Chapter  III.  The  first  year  the  stand  will  be  mostly 
clover,  and  it  it  is  desired  to  secure  the  seed  crop,  this  should 
be  mown,  in  the  latitude  of  central  Iowa,  before  July  ist.  If 
for  any  reason  there  should  be  a  failure  in  the  seed  crop,  the 
second  growth  or  aftermath  will  yield  a  large  amount  of  fall 
pasturage,  except  in  seasons  and  localities  of  very  extreme 
drouth.  The  next  year  timothy  will  take  the  lead,  most  of 
the  clover  having  died  the  previous  winter,  and  that  which 
survives  being,  for  the  most  part,  plants  from  seed  that,  for 
some  reason,  did  not  germinate  the  first  year.  Under  these 
circumstances,  an  ordinary  season  seldom  fails  to  produce  a 
large  crop  of  timothy,  due  to  the  fact  that  it  finds  an  abund- 
ant supply  of  all  the  elements  of  fertility  iri  the  decaying 
roots  of  the  clover  that  perished  the  previous  winter. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  land  should  then  be 
plowed  for  corn,  although  if  it  has  been  pastured  off  after  the 
second  crop  has  had  a  chance  to  reseed  the  ground,  the  pre- 
vious year,  clover  is  likely  to  assert  its  supremacy  the  follow- 
ing year.  If  it  does  the  field  can  be  kept  as  a  permanent 
meadow,  in  many  sections  at  least,  for  an  indefinite  number 
of  years,  each  second  crop  contributing  its  quota  of  seed.  We 
have  this  year  taken  the  eleventh  crop  from  part  of  a  field 
managed  in  this  way,  and  the  yield  has  been  larger,  both  in 
clover  and  timothy,  than  from  the  first  year's  sowing.  Where 
the  intention  from  the  first  is  to  establish  a  permanent  mead- 
ow of  this  kind,  we  advise  in  all  sections  where  orchard  grass 
(dactyhs  glomerata)  does  well,  to  sow  it  with  the  previous 
mixture  at  the  rate  of  half  a  bus»hel  per  acre,  mixing  the  seed 
with  sand  or  road  dust  to  secure  an  even  cast,  sowing  after 
the  clover  and  timothy  have  been  covered,  and  covering:  the 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  y3 

orchard  grass  with  a  brush  harrow.  Orchard  grass  does  well, 
as  a  rule,  south  of  the  latitude  of  central  Iowa  and  Nebraska, 
and  has  a  westward  range  much  further  than  clover.  How 
far  north  this  mixture  can  be  used  depends  very  much  on  the 
nature  of  the  exposure  and  the  protection  furnished  by  groves, 
windbreaks  and  other  grasses.  The  reasons  for  adding  or- 
chard grass  to  this  mixture  are  two:  First,  It  is  about  the 
only  grass  that  will  be  fit  to  cut  for  hay  at  the  time  the  com- 
mon red  clover  is  at  its  best  estate.  Second,  We  know  of  no 
grass,  except  clover,  that  will  yield  such  an  abundant  after- 
math. If,  therefore,  the  amount  of  timothy  above  suggested 
be  lessened  and  orchard  grass  added,  the  result  will  be,  wher- 
ever this  grass  does  well,  an  amount  of  fall  pasture  that  is 
surprising  to  farmers  who  do  not  know  the  capabilities  of  a 
soil  well  set  in  the  best  grasses.  However,  where  orchard 
grass  forms  any  considerable  portion  of  the  sward,  it  should 
not  be  plowed  up  except  after  a  term  of  years,  for  the  reason 
that  the  seed  is  expensive,  and  the  grass  being  a  perennial  or 
growing  from  3^ear  to  year  from  thesame  root,  should  be  used 
as  long  as  its  usefulness  continues. 

By  using  clover  in  any  ot  the  ways  above  suggested,  it  is 
possible  to  keep  up  the  fertility  of  the  soil  for  a  great  length 
of  time,  depending  upon  the  amount  of  phosphoric  acid  and 
potash  that  are  available,  or  that  may  become  available  by  the 
disintegration  ol  the  primary  rock  of  which  all  soils  are  largely 
composed.  As  to  how  long  it  might  require  to  exhaust  the  pot- 
ash and  phosphoric  acid  on  the  drift  soils  of  the  West  no  one  is 
yet  competent  to  express  an  opinion.  This,  however,  should 
be  distinctly  understood,  that  if  the  crops  grown  with  the  aid 
of  clover  as  well  as  the  clover  itself  are  removed  from  the  soil 
and  no  manure  returned,  the  land  will  become  permanently 
exhausted  and  cannot  be  restored  to  its  wonted  fertility  with- 
out the  costly,  hazardous  and  uncertain  experiment  of  the  use 
of  commercial  fertilizers. 

As  clover  itself  is  a  large  consumer  of  phosphoric  acid  and 
potash  the  first  symptom  woulcflikely  be  that  the  soil  would 
refuse  to  grow  clover  and  become,  in  popular  language, 
"clover  sick.n  This,  however,  is  not  a  proper  use  of  the 
term,  the  true  clover  sickness  being  a  disease  that  affects  the 
clover  in  the  fall  of  the  year  and  after  it  has  made  a  vigorous 
growth  during  the  spring  and  summer  months.  We  wish, 
therefore,  to  impress  with  the  utmost  clearness  and  distinct- 
ness on  the  mind  of  the  reader  this  fact,  that  he  cannot  goon 
forever  obtaining  large  crops  by  the  use  of  clover  unless  he 


t 
74  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

restores  to  the  land,  in  the  shape  of  barnyard  manure,  or  in 
some  other  way,  the  mineral  elements  which  it,  as  well  as  the 
other  crops,  have  removed  from  it. 

As  proof  of  the  value  of  the  clovers,  sown  and  managed 
as  above  described,  we  have  only  to  point  to  the  cornfields 
grown  on  clover  sod  in  any  year,  and  especially  in  wet  years, 
in  any  part  of  the  country,  but  particularly  in  the  West,  as 
compared  with  corn  grown  on  like  land  after  other  crops  and 
treated  in  all  respects  similarly.  The  natural  drainage  formed 
by  the  partially  rotted  soil  renders  earlier  planting  possible, 
the  decaying  roots  furnishing  an  abundant  supply  of  nitrogen 
in  the  best  condition  for  the  use  of  the  plant;  and  the  result, 
in  the  worst  corn  seasons,  is  a  crop  that  cannot  fail  to  be  largely 
profitable.  There  is,  however,  no-surer  way  to  exhaust  perma- 
nently the  fertility  of  the  soil  than  to  continue  the  process  we 
have  outlined  above  without  restoring  in  some  way  the  potash 
and  phosphoric  acid  that  have  been  removed  by  this  stimulat- 
ing process. 

Where  it  is  desired  to  use  the  clovers  in  connection  with 
the  other  grasses  as  a  permanent  pasture,  a  different  mixture 
should  be  adopted.  If  the  land  has  been  in  cultivation,  and 
it  is  desired  to  sow  the  grass  seed  with  spring  grains,  we  sug- 
gest the  following  mixture: 

Red  Clover 5  pounds 

Mammoth  Clover 5  pounds, 

Timothy 6  pounds 

Blue  Grass 6  pounds 

White  Clover •..../ 1  pound 

The  principles  laid  down  in  Chapter  III  should  be  ob- 
served with  regard  to  the  depth  of  covering,  the  moist  soils 
requiring  shallower,  and  the  light  and  dry  soils  a  deeper  cov- 
ering. As  the  object  in  the  permanent  pasture  is  to  secure 
as  far  as  possible  a  constant  succession  of  fresh  grass  and  of 
bloom,  it  would  be  well  to  add  to,  or  substitute  in  part  for  the 
above  mixture  any  other  grasses  that  are  known  to  do  well  in 
the  particular  locality.  For  example,  we  would  add,  in  the 
latitude  of  southern  Iowa,  3  or  4  pounds  of  orchard  grass.  On 
wet  lands  we  would  leave  out  half  the  red  and  mammoth 
clovers  and  substitute  five  pounds  of  alsike.  Where  red-top 
does  better  than  timothy,  as  it  does  in  some  of  the  southern 
states,  or  better  than  blue  grass,  as  in  some  of  the  extreme 
northern,  we  would  reduce  the  timothy  and  blue  grass  and 
substitute  red-top  in  part.  In  a  pasture  seeded  as  above,  the 
orchard  grass  will  furnish  the  first  bite,  so  desirable  in  the 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  75 

•early  spring,  the  blue  grass  coming  next,  followed  by 
timothy  and  clovers.  After  maturing  seed  the  blue  grass  will 
rest  while  the  clovers  are  making  their  most  vigorous  growth, 
but  will  revive  and  take  full  possession  of  the  field  when  the 
clovers  are  taking  time  to  ripen, their  seed  crop.  The  dispo- 
sition of  blue  grass  and  white  clover  to  usurp  full  possession 
of  permanent  pastures  renders  it  somewhat  difficult  to  retain 
the  red  and  mammoth.  The  difficulty  may  be  overcome  by 
scarifying  the  surface  with  a  disc  harrow  and  then  sowing  the 
seeds  of  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers,  or  by  scattering  ma- 
nure containing  these  seeds  on  such  pastures  during  the  win- 
ter season.  On  some  soils  especially  adapted  to  clovers,  these 
retain  their  place  in  the  permanent  pasture  much  longer  than 
on  others,  and  in  all  pastures  there  is  a  constant  contest  among 
the  grasses  themselves  for  the  supremacy. 

Where  it  is  desirable  to  seed  rough  lands  in  prairie  grass- 
es to  permanent  pasture,  the  following  mixture,  per  acre, 
may  be  used  with  advantage: 

Red  Clover ' 8  pounds 

Blue  Grass 7  pounds 

White  Clover 1  pound 

This  should  be  sown  before  the  frost  leaves  the  ground 
in  the  spring,  the  wild  grass  having  been  burned  off  the  pre- 
vious autumn.  It  should  then  be  pastured  heavily,  prefera- 
bly with  sheep,  calves  or  hogs,  in  order  to  check  the  growth 
of  the  wild  grasses  and  allow  the  cultivated  varieties  air  and 
sunlight.  The  tramping  of  the  soil  will  insure  covering, 
and,  unless  the  ground  be  excessively  wet,  will  not  materi- 
ally injure  the  young  plants  of  the  cultivated  grasses.  The 
pasturing  should  be  as  close  as  possible  the  first  year,  but  in 
the  second  year  the  red  clover  should  be  allowed  to  produce 
seed  and  thus  re-seed  the  ground.  For  some  reason  we  have 
never  succeeded  so  well  on  these  pastures  with  mammoth 
clover  as  with  the  common  red.  Where  a  large  acreage  is  to 
be  seeded  it  is  not  practicable  usually  to  pasture  with  either 
sheep,  hogs  or  calves.  In  that  case  yearling  or  two-year-old 
steers  should  be  used,  and  enough  should  be  turned  in  to 
keep  the  wild  grass  very  short  during  the  entire  summer. 
The  only  difficulty  in  this  method  of  seeding  is  that  the  best 
results  in  securing  a  speedy  transformation  of  the  wild  into 
the  tame  pasture  require  more  cattle  to  the  acre  than  is 
profitable  for  their  owner. 

We  are  nocf  prepared  to  say  how  far  West  of  the  Missouri 


76  CLQVER  CULTURE. 

the  method  of  seeding  with  a  nurse  cro p' will  prove  successfu 
on  account  of  lack  of  summer  moisture.  It  has  proved  a  fail- 
ure under  drier  conditions  than  prevail  east  of  the  Missouri, 
and  Nebraska  and  Kansas  farmers  have  resorted  to  the  meth- 
od of  cutting  the  prairie  sod  with  heavily  loaded  disc  harrows, 
and  then  sowing  grass  seeds  as  above  described.  We  are  in- 
clined to  think  that  the  rule  will  hold  good  that  wherever 
the  tame  grasses  require  to  be  sowed  alone  without  a  nurse 
crop  the  wild  pastures  will  require  to  be  disced  in  order  that 
the  grass  seeds  may  secure  an  early  and  rapid  growth  to  ena- 
ble them  to  withstand  the  coming  drouth. 

In  practical  clover  management  the  amount  of  moisture 
that  can  be  confidently  expected  must  always  be  borne  in 
mind.  While  in  the  entire  country  east  of  the  Missouri  and 
for  some  distance  west,  it  is  entirely  practicable  to  sow  the 
grass  seeds  with  spring  grains,  it  is  unsafe,  as  a  rule  west  of 
that  river.  If  they  are  sown  with  oats  especially  the  growth 
is  necessarily  limited,  the  plants  are  delicate  and  "spindling," 
^nd  when  the  nurse  crop  is  removed  the  hot  sun  is  almost 
certain  to  greatly  weaken,  if  not  entirely  destroy,  the  stand. 
This  is  true  to  some  extent  with  the  oats  crop  in  Iowa  and 
Missouri,  and  especially  during  the  excessively  hot  seasons. 
The  rule,  therefore,  west  of  the  Missouri,  except  in  unusually 
moist  soils,  should  be  to  sow  grass  seeds  as  a  crop  by  them- 
selves. The  ground  should  be  carefully  prepared,  clover  and 
timothy  seed  covered  to  the  depth  usually  given  to  oats  or 
spring  wheat,  and  the  tame  grasses  allowed  the  full  use  of 
the  ground.  The  weeds  will  spring  up  with  the  young 
grasses  and  these  should  be  mowed  off  once  or  twice  during 
the  summer,  if  necessary,  setting  the  mower  somewhat  high 
thus  allowing  the  young  plants  to  have  the  full  measure  of 
sunshine  and  air.  By  this  method  it  is  possible  to  grow  the 
tame  grasses  far  beyond  the  limit  set  by  public  opinion,  based 
on  previous  experience,  and  by  the  methods  usualjin  localities 
where  the  moisture  is  more  abundant.  This  necessarily  in- 
volves a  change  in  the  rotation  which  will  be  discussed  more 
fully  in  the  next  chapter. 

It  will  be  found,  however,  that  wherever  the  clovers  can 
be  relied  upon  as  a  permanent  crop,  they  can  be  grown  quite 
successfully  without  a  nurse  crop. 

There  is  a  point  west  of  the  Missouri  where  the  growth 
of  red,  mammoth,  white  and  alsike  clover  is  so  uncertain  that 
alfalfa  should  be  used  as  a  substitute.  Just  where  this  line  is 
has  not  yet  been  determined  by  actual  experience.  It  is  not  ? 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  77 

line  marked  out  by  degrees  of  latitude  or  longitude, — the  de- 
termining factors  are  the  geological  formation  of  the  soil  and 
its  capacity  to  hold  moisture  and  rainfall.  We  are  inclined 
to  the  belief  that  the  ordinary  clovers  can  be  used  with  suc- 
cess east  of  a  line  running  from  Norfolk,  Nebraska,  to  Kear- 
ney, and  south  to  the  Republioan,  east  along  that  river  and 
south  to  .some  distance  west  of  Topeka.  It  will  be  found  by 
practical  experience  that  they  can  be  grown  in  many  places 
west  of  the  line  indicated.  Where  these  can  not  be  grown, 
alfalfa  is  the  best  substitute  among  the  grasses  yet  discovered. 
It  is  grown  without  irrigation  quite  successfully  on  all  soils 
west  of  this  line  that  do  not  rest  on  hardpan  or  rock,  and 
while  it  cannot  take  the  place  of  clovers  in  rotation,  it  is  the 
best  substitute  among  the  grasses  yet  discovered.  It  is  proba- 
ble that  on  many  of  these  soils  west  of  the  line  indicated,  and 
possibly  in  some  places  east  of  it,  the  soy  bean  will  prove  a 
better  crop,  especially  in  view  of  its  adaptation  to  rotations, 
than  either  the  clovers  usually  grown  or  alfalfa. 

Under  the  present  conditions  from  ten  to  twenty  per 
cent,  of  the  lands  east  of  the  Great  Divide  in  Iowa  comprising 
sloughs,  swales  and  bottoms  are  too  wet  for  cultivation,  and 
the  time  for  tile  drainage  has  not  yet  fully  come.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years  farmers  will  realize  the  importance  of  tile  drain- 
ing all  these  sloughs.  In  the  meantime  much  can  be  done 
to  render  them  profitable  by  the  use  of  alsike  clover.  The 
method  of  sowing  is  similar  to  that  recommended  in  the  case 
of  prairie  lands  which  it  is  desirable  to  seed  without  plowing. 
Whatever  grass  may  be  upon  the  land  of  the  previous  year's 
growth  should  be  burned  off  in  the  fall,  and  these  lands, 
whether  sloughs,  swales,  or  bottoms,  annually  wet  or  subject 
to  overflow,  should  be  sown  to  alsike  before  the  frost  leaves 
the  ground  in  the  spring,  at  the  rate  of  about  four  pounds  of 
seed  per  acre.  As  it  is  not  ordinarily  practicable  to  pasture 
these  lands,  especially  sloughs  which  meander  through  culti- 
vated fields,  the  mower  should  be  run  over  them  after^  first 
leveling  the  ant  hils  with  a  spade,  and  thus  the  rank  growth 
of  slough  grass  kept  under  control.  This  will  give  the  alsike 
air  and  sunlight  and  ordinarily  secure  a  fair  stand  the  first 
year.  q>  The  second  year  the  entire  crop  of  alsike  and  slough 
grass  may  be  cut  for  hay;  or,  if  desirable,  threshed  for  seed. 
The  effect  of  this  method  will  be.  in  a  year  or  two,  to  greatly 
decrease  the  size  of  the  slough  and  dry  out  bottom  lands,  the 
decay  of  the  roots  of  the  wild  grasses  allowing  the  water  to 
sink  away,  and  where  it  is  practical  to  pasture  them,  especial- 


78 


CLOVER  CULTURE 


ly  with  heavy  cattle,  the  compression  of  the  soil  by  their  weight 
will  narrow  the  slough,  and  when  this  process  has  been  begun 
it  is  practicable  to  sow  the  red,  mammoth  and  white  clovers. 
In  this  way  the  unsightly  sloughs  which  disfigure  a  great  part 
of  the  Western  country,  may  be  converted  into  meadows,  to 
the  profit  of  the  farmer  and  a  great  improvement  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  farm. 


CURING  CLOVER  HAY. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  problem  of  curing  clover  hay  at  its  best  estate,  where 
the  acreage  is  large  and  the  weather  uncertain,  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  and^  perplexing  that  awaits  the  solution  of  the 
practical  farmer.  *  The  problem  is  to  evaporate  at  the  least 
expense  of  labor  the  large  water  content  in  clover,  when  cut 
when  it  should  be,  with  the  least  possible  damage  to  the  hay, 
either  from  excessive  drying,  from  rainfall  or  from  dew.  An- 
alyses made  at  different  times  and  places  and  collected  and 
published  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  show  that  clover 
before  bloom  has  from  61.2  to  82.7  percent,  of  water,  with  an 
average  of  72;  in  bloom,  from  47.1  to  91.8  with  an  average  of 
72.7;  after  bloom  from  61.1  to  74.2  with  an  average  of  68.2, 
the  average  of  all  analyses  giving  a  minimum  of  47.  i  and  a  max- 
imum of  91. 8  and  an  average  of  70. 8.  Analyses  of  clover  hay 
cured  before  bloom  give  a  minimum  of  6  per  cent. ,  and  a 
maximum  of  31.3,  with  an  average  of  20.6;  in  bloom  a  mini- 
mum of  Q4,  a  maximum  of  26.7,  an  average  of  20.9,  while  the 
average  of  all  analyses,  numbering  some  thirty-eight  of  clover 
hay,  give  a  minimum  of  6  and  a  maximum  of  31.3,  with  aver- 
age of  15.3. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Heileman,  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Wil- 
son, of  the  Iowa  Agricultural  College  and  Experiment  Station, 
located  at  Ames,  Iowa,  has  taken  samples  of  clover  as  nearly  as 
possible  in  the  best  condition  for  cutting  for  hay,  has  analyzed 
samples  of  it  when  cut,  has  cured  the  rest  into  hay  in  the 
proper  condition  for  storage,  and  analyzed  the  different  samples, 
and  also  like  samples  of  hay  thoroughly  cured  in  the  mow, 
with  the  following  results: 

Total  moisture  in  a  sample  of  clover  in  its  best  condition 

(79) 


SO  CLOVER  CUI/TURE. 

for  cutting,  75.90.  The  total  moisture  in  sample  of  well 
•cured  hay,  16.62.  Moisture  in  clover  hay  after  being  in  the 
barn  twenty  days,  12.22.  From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
amount  evaporated  in  the  process  of  curing  was  58.28  per 
cent.,andjthat  an  additional  amount  of  4.40  was  lost  in  the  barn 
in  twenty  days.  In  other  words,  after  losing  in  the  process 
of  curing  58.28  per  cent,  of  the  original  moisture,  26.48  per 
cent,  of  what  remains  is  lost  after  storage  in  the  mow  for 
twenty  days.  On  the  basis  which  these  figures  furnish,  100 
pounds  of  green  clover  cut  at  the  proper  season  and  cured  in 
its  best  estate,  will  make  41.72  pounds  of  hay  ready  for  the 
mow.  Twenty  days  after  storing  it  will  weigh  37.32  pounds. 
The  shrinkage  probably  continues  in  a  variable,  but  gradually 
decreasing  degree  for  a  considerable  time  longer,  the  variation 
depending  on  the  season  and  the  average  humidity  of  the  at- 
mosphere which  surrounds  it. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  problem  before  the  farmer 
in  making  hay  is  to  get  rid  of  about  60  per  cent,  of  the  weight 
of  the  clover  by  evaporation  in  the  sunshine  and  wind,  and  to 
do  this  with  the  least  possible  expense,  and  least  danger  of 
damage  from  scorching  by  the  sun,  from  rainfall  or  dew. 
The  problem  in  the  Eastern  states,  where  the  crop  is  small, 
labor  plenty  and  barn  room  abundant,  and  where  there  is 
little  necessity  for  the  use  of  special  machinery,  is  a  compar- 
atively easy  one.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  clover  can 
be  taken  in  its  ideal  condition,  that  is,  when  about  one-third 
of  the  heads  are  turned  brown  and  nearly  every  stalk  in 
bloom,  and  can  be  converted  into  ideal  hay  with  but  little 
risk  of  exposure  to  sun,  rain  or  dew.  By  the  use  of  the 
mower  an  hour  or  two  in  the  afternoon  or  evening,  a  sufficient 
amount  of  the  crop  for  the  next  day's  operations  can  be  cut 
down.  By  stirring  it  once  or  twice  with  the  tedder  in  the 
morning  it  will  part  with  sufficient  of  its  water  to  enable  it  to 
be  placed  in  cocks.  These  can  then  be  covered  with  hay  caps 
made  either  from  ducking,  muslin  or  wood  pulp,  and  allowed 
to  remain  until  they  go  through  the  sweating  process,  whether 
that  be  two  days  or  a  week.  A  hay  day  can  then  be  taken, 
the  caps  removed  and  the  crop  stowed  away  in  the  barn.  The 
first  crop  treated  in  this  way,  a  crop  of  seed  in  the  fall  from 
the  common  red  clover  is  reasonably  certain. 

The  conditions  are  widely  different,  however,  in  the 
West.  There  the  crop  is  usually  large,  running  as  a  rule 
from  forty  acres  to  several  hundred  on  a  farm,  and  machinery 
specially  adapted  to  the  work  becomes  a  necessity  on  account 


CUI/TURE.  81 

of  the  magnitude  of  the  crop  and  the  high  price  of  labor.  It 
is  by  no  means  difficult  to  secure  a  crop  of  clover  hay  under 
these  conditions,  provided  it  be  allowed  to  stand  until  the 
heads  are  nearly  all  turned  brown  and  the  stalks  have  parted 
with  a  large  amount  .of  their  water  content;  but  the  hay  is  by 
this  delay  very  seriously  damaged  in  quality.  Wit(i  the  or- 
dinary farmer  hay  is  hay,  and,  hay  made  in  its  best  estate,  is 
regarded  as  but  little  superior  to  hay  made  from  clover  which 
has  become  largely  woody  fiber  and  therefore  to  a  great  extent 
indigestible.  The  farmer  has  no  means  of  determining  the 
food  value  of  this  hay,  nor  of  comparing  it  with  clover  hay 
made  in  its  best  estate.  He  notices  that  some  seasons  his 
cattle  eat  a  very  large  amount  of  it,  and  at  other  seasons  a 
comparatively  small  amount,  with  about  the  same  final  ap- 
parent result  in  thrift,  but  he  attributes  this  difference  in  the 
spending  quality  to  the  temperature,  or  to  the  previous  con- 
dition of  the  cattle  and  other  stock,  whereas  it  may  lie  almost 
wholly  in  the  difference  in  the  nutritive  value  of  the  hay  fed, 
due  to  the  time  of  cutting  and  manner  of  curing.  We  know 
of  no  experiments  covering  this  ground,  and  hence  are  obliged 
to  fall  back  on  certain  well-known  principles,  namely,  that 
all  grasses  after  they  have  passed  their  bloom,  with  the  possi- 
ble exception  of  timothy,  develop  woody  fiber  very  rapidly, 
and  that  this  woody  fiber  is  to  a  very  great  extent  indigestible 
and  hence  useless.  Corn  fodder  cut  when  the  ears  are  glazed 
as  compared  with  corn  fodder  cut  when  the  blades  are  brown; 
furnishes  an  example  of  the  change  that  goes  on  in  clover. 
It  is,  therefore,  an  easy  matter  to  make  clover  hay  in  the  Westv 
provided  it  is  allowed  to  stand  until  half  its  nutritive  value  is 
lost;  it  is  often  a  very  difficult  matter  when  cut  with  the 
maximum  of  nutriment  in  the  plant.  It  is  as  near  that  point 
as  possible  when  in  full  bloom.  On  account  of  the  difference 
in  the  blooming  period  in  any  one  field,  the  central  heads  of 
the  stalk  or  branch  blooming  first,  and  the  later  and  earlier 
varieties  being  grouped  under  the  one  term,  red  clover,  the 
farmer  is  obliged  to  allow  about  one- third  of  the  heads  to  turn 
in  order  to  get  the  maximum  of  bloom. 

In  dealing  with  clover,  it  must  always  be  bofne  in  mind 
that  it  is  a  wonderful  evaporator  of  moisture.  That  is  the 
habit  of  its  entire  life.  All  close  observers  are  familiar  with 
this  fact,  that  no  matter  how  thoroughly  saturated  the  soil  of 
the  clover  field  may  be  by  recent  rains  which  the  magnitude 
of  the  crop  will  not  allow  to  run  off,  it  soon  becomes  dry,  and 
that  solely  through  the  enormous  evaporation  from  the  leaves. 


82  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

This  habit  of  its  life  clings  to  it  in  death.  When  mown,  it 
evaporates  its  water  so  rapidly  that  in  a  short  time  under  a 
hot  sun  and  in  a  dry  wind  the  leaves,  the  most  valuable  part 
of  it,  are  dried  to  the  point  where  they  crumble  to  pieces  in 
handling.  The  problem  before  the  farmer  is  to  avoid  this 
crumbling,  and  at  the  same  lime  secure  such  an  amount  of 
evaporation  from  the  stalk  that  it  is  in  condition  to  go  into 
the  barn.  The  destruction  of  the  structure  of  the  leaf  by  too 
rapid  drying  destroys  its  power  to  evaporate  water  from  the 
stalk,  and  hence  it  is  possible  to  have  the  leaves  dry,  almost 
charred,  in  fact,  and  their  evaporating  power  destroyed,  while 
the  stalk  may  yet  remain  full  of  sap.  When  clover  is  very 
heavy,  say  three  tons  of  cured  hay  to  the  acre,  it  is  not  an  un- 
common thing  to  see  the  leaf  structure  on  the  surface  of  the 
swath  destroyed,  while  the  underlying  grass  is  almost  as  green 
as  when  it  first  felt  the  edge  of  the  sickle.  To  avoid  this  we 
regard  as  the  essential  point,  the  very  key  to  the  situation  in 
the  curing  of  clover  hay.  The  leaves  must  be  preserved,  not 
merely  for  their  own  sake,  but  for  their  use  in  evaporating 
the  juices  or  sap  of  the  stalk.  It  is  this  consideration  that 
makes  the  use  of  the  tedder  so  imperative  when  clover  hay  is 
cut  when  it  should  be  to  secure  the  best  quality  of  hay,  and 
at  the  same  time  a  reasonable  chance  for  a  seed  crop. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  only  practical  agencies 
which  the  farmer  can  use  for  the  ev  poration  of  the  surplus 
moisture  are  the  sunshine  and  the  wind,  and  the  whole  prob- 
lem lies  in  exposing  to  the  fullest  extent  the  fresh-cut  grass 
to  the  sun  and  wind  so  as  to  secure  the  requisite  amount  of 
evaporation  in  the  shortest  possible  time,  and  in  the  best  part 
of  the  day.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  while  clover  parts 
with  its  moisture  readily,  the  evaporating  power  of  its  leaves 
being  usually  great,  it  absorbs  moisture  with  almost  equal 
readiness.  A  heavy  swath  of  clover  lying  on  damp  ground 
will  keep  green  for  days,  especially  if  the  atmosphere  is  heav- 
ily laden  with  moisture,  which  it  sometimes  is  even  in  the 
hottest  weather.  We  have  had  it  after  two  days  of  hot  sun 
so  dry  on  the  top  of  the  swath  as  to  be  seriously  damaged, 
while  the  bottom  was  almost  as  green,  to  all  appearance,  as 
when  first  cut.  It  absorbs  dew  like  a  sponge  and  in  fact  be- 
gins to  take  up  water  from  the  air  in  a  day  when  the  atmos- 
phere is  full  of  moisture,  long  before  the  dew  begins  to  form. 
Much  of  the  damage  to  clover  hay  arises  from  the  failure  on 
the  part  of  the  farmer  to  comprehend  this  wonderful  powei 
of  tfie  clovers  to  absorb  as  well  as  evaporate  moisture.  On 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  83 

the  other  hand,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  damage  to 
clover  whether  in  the  stack  or  barn  comes  nearly  always  from 
the  outside  moisture,  whether  in  the  form  of  rain  or  dew  or  ab- 
sorbed from  an  atmosphere  loaded  with  moisture.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  explain  why  it  is  that  the  juices  of  the  plant  are 
comparatively  harmless  even  when  somewhat  in  excess,  but 
such  we  take  to  be  the  fact. 

With  these  preliminary  statements  we  are  prepared  to 
describe  what  we  regard  as  the  best  practical  method  of  man- 
aging clover,  cut  in  its  best  condition  and  under  circumstances 
prevalent  on  the  average  western  farm.  The  mowing  should 
be  done  as  far  as  possible  in  the  evening,  say  after  four  o'clock. 
A  wide-cut  mower,  say  six  or  seven  feet,  will  enable  the  op- 
erator to  cut  down  a  comparatively  large  acreage,  and  especially 
if  he  runs  the  machine  quite  late  in  the  evening.  The  time 
of  the  man,  team  and  mower  is  worth  a  great  deal  more  an 
hour  after  sundown  than  in  the  heat  of  the  day.  Clover  is 
not  damaged  in  the  least  by  being  cut  with  the  dew  on  or 
slightly  wet  and  the  heat  of  the  sun  from  four  until  six  is  sel- 
dom sufficient  to  render  clover  cut  during  these  hours  liable 
to  damage  even  if  wet  with  dew  or  rain  in  the  night.  The 
first  work  in  the  early  morning  should  be  to  start  the  tedder, 
one  wide  enough  to  take  two  swaths,  and  drawn  by  a  span  of 
fast-walking  horses.  The  more  directly  upwards  the  tedder 
tosses  the  hay,  the  better.  This  shakes  off  dew  or  rain,  and 
leaves  the  mass  in  the  best  possible  shape  for  the  circulation 
of  the  air  and  most  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  sun.  A  good 
tedder  with  a  team  of  this  kind  can  cover  a  large  amount  of 
ground  in  a  few  hours,  and  by  repeating  the  operation,  in 
good  weather,  clover  can  be  fit  to  go  into  the  barn  in  the 
afternoon. 

We  cannot  describe  in  words  the  amount  of  dryness  neces- 
sary for  safety  in  storing  hay.  This  can  be  learned  only  by 
experience.  When  a  stem  of  hay  is  taken  in  the  hand  and 
tightly  twisted  and  no  moisture  is  observed  on  the  outside  of 
the  stalk,  it  is  generally  safe  to  store  it.  This,  however,  is 
conditioned  somewhat  upon  the  amount  of  moisture  in  the 
atmosphere,  and  only  experience  can  tell  the  exact  ideal  con- 
dition. This  condition  being  attained,  in  the  best  judgment 
of  the  manager,  the  work  of  storing  away  should  be  done  as 
quickly  as  possible.  It  is  here  that  the  hay  loader  becomes 
valuable,  inasmuch  as  with  a  good  loader  a  ton  can  be  placed 
on  the  wagon  in  from  fifteen  to  twenty  minutes  and  removed 
in  much  less  time  with  a  horse  fork  and  hay  sling.  By  this 


CULTURE. 

method  of  handling  the  hay,  the  labor  of 'cocking  it,  or  raking 
it  into  windrows,  the  expense  of  hay  caps,  etc.,  are  avoided: 
Where  the  crop  is  light,  say  one  and  one-half  tons  to  the  acre, 
it  is  necessary  to  use  the  hay  rake  for  speedy  loading,  and 
under  these  circumstances  the  second  tedding  may  be  omitted 
and  the  hay  loaded  out  of  a  small  windrow. 

It  requires  nice  judgment  to  know  what  to  do  with  hay 
partially  cured  that  has  been  caught  in  a  heavy  rain.  In  the 
West  storms  are  frequently  accompanied  with  such  high 
winds,  and  the  down-pour  is  so  heavy  that  hay  anywhere  near 
cured,  if  put  in  a  cock,  will  be  soaked  to  the  bottom.  If 
caught  in  a  windrow  or  bunched  it  is  in  a  worse  condition, 
when  thoroughly  wet,  than  if  it  were  scattered  on  the  ground. 
It  will  need  to  be  shaken  out  before  storing  away,  and  every 
time  hay  is  handled  after  partially  cured  and  then  soaked,  it 
is  seriously  damaged.  We  have  seen  it  in  hot  weather  with 
the  atmosphere  laden  with  moisture,  utterly  ruined  in  twen- 
ty-four hours  in  the  windrow.  The  best  way  is  to  keep  the 
work  well  in  hand  and  the  loader  well  up  with  the  work,  so- 
that  but  a  small  amount  of  hay  fit  to  go  into  the  barn  or  shed 
can  be  exposed  to  threatened  rain.  It  is  almost  as  easy  with 
Improved  machinery  and  an  adequate  force  to  put  hay  in  the 
barn  or  shed  as  it  is  to  put  it  in  cock,  and  when  once  in  the 
cock  and  completely  soaked,  it  is  about  as  well  to  let  it  stand 
until  it  dries  out  of  itself.  Half  its  value  will  be  lost  in  the 
handling  and  if  allowed  to  stand  till  winter  it  is  likely  to  be 
no  worse.  In  a  matter  requiring  as  sound  judgment  and 
prompt  action  as  curing  clover  hay,  no  minute  directions  can 
be  given.  Experience  will  best  suggest  details.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  damage  which  hay  in  the  process 
of  curing  receives  from  rain,  is  proportionate  to  the  stage  to 
which  the  curing  process  has  been  carried.  The  more  thor- 
oughly it  has  been  cured,  the  more  damage  it  receives  from 
the  same  amount  of  rain.  The  less  it  is  handled  after  being 
once  wet,  when  partially  cured,  the  less  ultimate  damage  will 
result.  It  is  almost  impossible  in  ordinary  seasons  to  secure 
a  crop  of  clover  hay  in  the  best  condition  without  the  use  of 
barns  or  hay  sheds.  If  the  farmer  is  to  wait  until  settled 
weather  before  commencing  to  stack  and  hasten  the  rounding 
out  and  covering  ot  the  stack  when  a  cloud  appears  on  the 
horizon,  his  work  must  necessarily  be  greatly*  hindered. 
All  farmers  cannot  have  expensive  barns,  but  it  is  possible  for 
every  farmer  who  has  twenty  acres  of  clover  hay  to  build  a  hay 
shed,  that  will  hold  his  crop,  and  by  facilitating  the  process  of 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  85 

harvesting  it,  pay  a  good  interest  on  the  investment  and  a  much 
larger  interest  in  the  way  of  protecting  the  crop  after  it  is 
harvested.  The  damage  to  clover  hay  in  the  stack  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions  is  not  less  than  twelve  per  cent,  in 
the  first  three  weeks,  even  if  in  that  time  there  should  not  have 
been  a  drop  of  rain.  This  arises  from  the  heating  of  the  hay, 
(which  is  unavoidable)  the  deposit  of  the  ascending  moisture 
on  the  outside  of  the  stack  during  the  night  and  the  consequent 
bleaching  of  the  entire  outer  surface.  The  loss  from  this 
cause  has  been  quite  fully  investigated  by  some  of  our  Experi- 
ment Stations,  and  we  think  that  in  stating  it  at  twelve  per 
cent,  we  are  making  a  very  conservative  estimate.  It  is  pos- 
sible to  erect  a  hay  shed  that  will  hold  fifty  tons  of  hay,  with- 
out cattle  shedding  around  it,  for  $100.  With  this  the  farm- 
er does  not  need  to  wait  for  settled  weather  and  can  stow 
away  a  load  whenever  it  is  cured.  The  advantages  are  none 
the  less  in  feeding  it  out  in  the  winter.  There  is  no  waste  in 
stacks  partially  used,  no  stack  bottoms  wet  with  rain  or  snow, 
no  loss  in  hauling  from  the  stack  to  the  feed  yard,  and  we 
therefore  urge  every  farmer  who  wishes  to  make  or  feed  hay 
economically  to  provide  himself  with  one  of  these  useful 
buildings. 

We  ha,ve  emphasized  the  importance  of  the  use  of  the 
tedder.  There  are  years  when  it  will  not  be  needed,  as,  for 
example,  when  by  reason  of  the  lateness  of  the  season  the 
corn  cannot  be  laid  by  in  time  to  secure  a  hay  crop  in  the  best 
condition,  or  when  by  reason  of  the  lack  of  hay  weather  the 
crop  is  cut  late,  or  when  the  crop  is  light  or  toolarge  to  secure 
itatitsbest,  butwestrongly  urge  every  farmer  who  wishes  to  se- 
cure a  crop  of  clover  hay  that  will  feed  out  satisfactorily,  to  pro- 
vide himself  with  one  of  these  useful  implements.  After  sever- 
al years'  experience  we  would  not  undertake  to  secure  a  large 
crop  of  heavy  clover  at  the  proper  season  without  one.  VVe 
know  of  no  implement  that  will  so  well  secure  thorough  and 
even  curing  of  the  hay  and  guard  against  both  the  over-cur- 
ing that  leads  to  the  loss  of  the  leaves  and  the  wet,  un cured 
bunches  that  do  so  much  to  set  up  destructive  fermentation  in 
the  mow  and  induce,  under  certain  conditions,  spontaneous 
combustion  in  the  barn. 

The  destruction  of  many  barns  from  mysterious  and  un- 
known causes  since  the  introduction  of  clover  culture  in  the 
West  renders  a  discussion  of  the  subject  a  fitting  conclusion 
to  a  chapter  on  curing  clover.  Too  many  of  these  barns  have 
been  destroyed  by  fire  to  allow  the  farmer  to  regard  the  prob- 


86  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

lem  of  spontaneous  combustion  as  of  interest  merely  to  the 
scientist  or  perhaps  to  the  manufacturer.  While  it  has 
long  been  known  that  spontaneous  combustion  is  liable  to- 
occur  in  heaps  of  rubbish  containing  oil  and  other  carbon- 
aceous matters  in  a  state  of  minute  distribution,  it  has  been 
steadily  held  by  the  majority  of  scientists  that  under  no  cir- 
cumstances is  the  spontaneous  combustion  of  clover  hay  pos 
sible.  The  mysterious  fires  that  have  occurred  in  barns,  sheds 
and  stacks  have  been  regarded  as  the  results  of  accident,  or 
the  farmer's  pipe,  or  the  nibbling  by  mice  of  matches  dropped 
out  of  the  boy's  pocket  as  he  was  tramping  the  hay  in  the  mow. 
As  late  as  the  summer  of  1869,  Professor  Sanborn,  one  of  the 
highest  authorities  on  such  questions,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry 
in  the  Breeders*  Gazette,  of  Chicago,  said: 

In  fact,  I  never  knew  before  this  case,  of  a  barn  burning-  where 
either  lightning,  coal  oil  lanterns  or  satisfactory  evidence  of  incendiarism 
— generally  for  insurance — was  not  the  easily  inciting  cause.  Hay  or 
fodder  that  is  green  enough  to  ferment  will  pack  closely  in  a  mow  by  its 
very  weight,  and  as  it  heats  it  settles  closer  and  closer,  of  course  exclud- 
ing the  circulation  of  the  air,  except  it  be  by  a  very  slow  movement.  As 
the  hotter  part  is  the  center  of  the  mow,  it  will  be  seen  to  be  very  doubt- 
ful whether  air,  always  essential  to  flame,  will  be  present  in  amount 
sufficient  to  produce  flame.  I  doubt  whether  spontaneous  combustion  of 
hay  or  corn  fodder  is  possible. 

• 

We  had,  ever  since  our  attention  had  been  called  to  the 
matter,  held  to  the  same  view.  There  are  frequently  myste- 
rious things  connected  with  fires,  and  the  occasional  loss  or 
barns  from  no  apparent  cause  seems  to  us  no  more  mysterious 
than  dozens  of  cases  of  fires  in  cities. 

During  the  month  of  September,  1889,  we  received  a 
letter  from  Mr.  H.  R.  Learning,  of  Wyoming,  Iowa,  of  which 
we  quote  the  important  part: 

Enclosed  find  a  sample  of  clover  hay  put  up  in  June,  on  the  third  day 
after  cutting,  in  a  barn  that  would  hold  a  hundred  tons.  It  became  so  hot 
that  it  could  not  be  held  in  the  naked  hand,  and  tons  of  it  are  completely 
spoiled.  Farmers  are  in  a  panic  here  about  their  hay.  Stacks  and  barns 
are  taking  fire  and  they  do  not  know  what  to  do.  Fifty  tons  of  hay  burnt  d 
within  one-half  mile  of  my  own  farm  last  night,  from  its  own  heat.  This 
hay  was  watched  as  it  was  expected  to  burn,  and  there  was  no  question  as  to 
its  cause.  One  barn,  two  miles  east  of  here,  was  emptied  of  its  hay  day  be- 
fore yesterday,  that  was  already  on  fire  in  the  inside  of  the  mow  and  kept 
down  by  water  till  it  was  hauled  out  to  the  field.  After  being  hauled  out 
it  took  fire  and  burned  completely  up. 

The  letter  in  full  may  be  found  in  the  Homestead  of  Oc- 
tober ist,  of  the  year  named,  and  furnishes  clear  and  convinc- 
ing proof  of  at  least  more  than  one  case  of  spontaneous  com- 
bustion. About  the  same  time  two  cases  were  reported,  one 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  87 

from  Oilman,  Hancock  County,  Iowa,  and  one  from  Man- 
chester, Delaware  County,  Iowa.  In  the  Manchester  case  the 
barn  was  the  property  of  Mr.  I.  G.  Clute,  and  was  insured  in 
the  Farmers'  Insurance  Co.,  of  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa.  The 
adjuster  of  the  company  makes  the  following  statement  in  the 
Cedar  Rapids,  (Iowa)  Gazette: 

The  barn  was  60x100  feet,  the  mow  beiug  40x90,  and  about  30  feet  deep, 
containing  nearly  500  tons  of  hay.  Barly  in  haying  season  green  clover  had 
been  put  in  one  bent,  and  ever  since  it  had  been  heating  until  at  last  it  took 
fire  by  spontaneous  combustion.  When  discovered,  there  was  in  three 
chimney  holes,  as  the  neighbors  called  them,  a  blue  blaze  springing  out  over 
each,  some  two  or  three  feet  under  the  roof.  The  fire  was  located  far  be- 
neath at  the  depth  of  thirty  feet.  .  .  .  This  blue  blaze  was  gas,  and  the 
depths  beneath  were  a  gas  well  on  a  small  scale.  One  hundred  and  three 
neighbors  collected  to  fight  the  fire  and  worked  two  days  and  nights  to  save 
the  hay.  Thirteen  out  of  the  one  hundred  and  three  succumbed  to  the  effects 
of  the  gas  and  had  to  stop  work,  one  being  so  violently  ill  as  a  result  that 
he  is  not  likely  to  recover. 

We  have  from  time  to  time  received  accounts  of  the  spon- 
taneous combustion  of  clover  hay,  but  the  above  embraces 
nearly  every  distinct  feature.  The  first  phenomenon  is  ex- 
cessive heating  in  the  center  of  the  mow  or  stack;  then  the 
formation  of  funnels  through  which  gas  escapes  at  a  tempera- 
ture high  enough  to  cook  eggs  in  a  few  minutes,  corroding  at 
the  same  time  the  shell  and  the  lining  or  membrane  which 
encloses  the  egg,  sometimes  followed  by  flame  and  sometimes 
not.  Instances  often  occur  in  which  the  combustion  has  been 
arrested,  and  in  the  heart  of  the  stack  may  be  found  a  mass 
of  charcoal. 

We  sent  a  sample  of  this  charcoal  taken  from  the  mow  of 
Mr.  C.  H.  Seager,  of  Gilman,  Iowa,  whose  barn  was  burned 
in  the  fall  of  1889,  to  Prof.  Sanborn,  asking  his  opinion  of 
this  new  evidence  of  spontaneous  combustion,  and  we  quote  a 
part  of  his  reply,  as  follows: 

*  "All  preconceived  views  of  the  matter  are  puerile  before  facts.  The 
charred  material  looks  much  like  matter  burned  in  an  air  insufficient  for 
full  combustion.  Charring-  does  not  imply  flame,  but  rather  the  con- 
trary. The  heating1  of  green  food  in  the  mow  is  due  to  a  ferment  and 
not  to  direct  oxidation  in  the  old  sense  of  the  word,  or  in  the  sense  that 
wood  is  burned.  Will  the  ferments  (low  plant  life)  thus  produce  self-de- 
struction or  carry  fermentation  forward  until  it  becomes  oxidation?  Fer- 
mentation ceases  with  loss  of  moisture,  and  flame  will  not  occur  where 
it  is  abundant.  I  confess  I  never  saw  such  charred  material  as  you  have 
forwarded  to  me.  While  it  does  not  follow  that  combustion  need  be  the 
result,  I  confess  to  the  belief  that  the  circumstances  do  not  warrant  the 
denial  of  the  possibility  of  it,  at  least  by  me,  with  the  evidence  before 
me.  I  hope  that  you  will  obtain  the  views  of  the  highest  biological 
authority  in  the  country,  for  the  question  is  an  interesting  and  impor- 
tant one." 


88  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

In  the  state  of  Iowa  in  1889,  there  were  not  less  than  one 
hundred  cases  of  spontaneous  combustion,  all  having  the  same 
general  features,  and  for  some  reason  the  large  majority  of 
them,  in  fact,  all  with  a  few  exceptions,  occurring  in  the 
north  part  of  the  state.  Was  it  because  the  farmers  in  that 
part  of  the  state  had  less  experience  in  curing  clover  hay,  and 
hence  cured  it  too  green,  or  was  it  because  the  low  plant  life 
which  is  the  cause  of  the  heating  in  clover  hay  and  other  for- 
age was  more  abundant  in  that  section  than  in  other  parts 
of  the  West? 

Mr.  J.  W.  Bopp,  of  Hawkeye,  Iowa,  who  investigated 
nearly  fifty  cases  of  spontaneous  combustion,  reported  that  in 
all  cases  they  occurred  when  the  hay  was  in  bays  over  twenty 
feet  deep.  In  all,  or  at  least  nearly  all  the  instances,  ttie  hay 
was  put  in  damp,  either  from  rain  or  dew,  or  with  wet  bunches 
interspersed,  the  result  of  attempting  to  cure  a  heavy  crop 
without  the  use  of  the  tedder.  In  most  cases  into  which  we 
have  enquired,  the  hay  was  placed  on  timbers  that  furnished 
an  opportunity  for  the  moderately  free  access  of  air  underneath. 
In  one  notable  case  at  Marshalltown,  Iowa,  a  stack  put  up 
when  the  hay  was  in  bad  condition,  took  fire  and  burned. 
Horses  running  in  the  field  had  eaten  well  into  the  sides,  for 
some  reason  preferring  this  stack  to  other  stacks  in  the  same 
enclosure,  that  were  put  up  in  the  best  condition.  In  the 
Homestead,  of  February  5,  1889,  Mr.  Luman  Edwards,  of 
Henry  county,  Illinois,  reported  two  cases  occurring  in  1886, 
one  at  Cambridge,  and  the  other  at  Kewanee,  of  that  state. 
Since  the  public  agitation  of  this  subject,  we  have  received 
numerous  letters  from  farmers,  notably  from  Englishmen, 
giving  their  experience  both  in  America  and  in  Europe,  all 
corroborating  the  facts  already  stated.  The  only  wonder  is, 
that  the  theory  of  the  scientists,  that  spontaneous  combus- 
tion of  clover  hay  was  impossible,  had  not  been  utterly  ex- 
ploded long  ago.  In  the  light  of  the  facts  above  given  it  is 
utterly  untenable.  Since  the  numerous  cases  of  spontaneous 
combustion  in  Iowa  and  elsewhere  have  occurred,  the  subject 
has  been  investigated  by  Prof.  Burrell,  of  the  University  of 
Illinois.  His  conclusions  are  as  follows: 

"In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  said  that  spontaneous  combustion  is 
certainly  and  definitely  known  to  occur  in  some  substances.  One  of  the 
requisites  in. most  cases  for  this  is  that  substance  shall  be  in  a  state  of 
minute  subdivision,  in  order  that  a  very  great  surface  may  be  presented 
for  oxygenation,  and  that  the  slowly  accumulated  heat  shall  not  be  car- 
ried away  by  conduction.  Thus  oils  containing  a  large  portion  of  hydro- 
gen, like  common  lubricating  oil,  have  no  tendency  to  ignite  at  ordinary 
temperatures  when  kept  in  bulk,  but  when  cotton  waste  is  smeared  with 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  89- 

the  oil  and  thrown  into  a  heap  of  some  considerable  size,  fire  is  very 
liable  to  occur  from  the  heat  generated  within  the  pile.  In  this  condition, 
slow  oxygen  ation  of  the  oil  take.s  place,  favored  by  the  comparatively 
enormous  oil  surfaces  presented  to  the  air  included  within  the  massr 
while  at  the  same  time  escape  of  heat  is  prevented  by  the  non-conducting 
quality  of  the  substance.  As  the  heat  accumulates,  chemical  combina- 
tion takes  place  with  still  greater  energy,  the  stored  heat  favoring  the 
process,  and  the  process  constantly  contributing  to  increase  the  degree 
of  temperature.  If  now,  the  supply  of  air  continues  sufficient,  as  it  will 
be  when  the  mass  is  sufficiently  porous,  and  the  physical  conditions  are 
such  as  to  continuously  retain  the  generated  heat,  the  time  will  come 
when  the  temperature  will  be  raised  high  enough  to  enkindle  the  mass. 
Should  an  abundant  supply  of  fresh  air  suddenly  reach  this  over-heated 
and  inflammable  material  an  outburst  of  flame  may  result. 

"  Just  the  same  result  has  been  known  to  occur  in  many  other  sub- 
stances, as  charcoal  still  having  condensed  within  its  pores  the  inflamma- 
ble gases  separated  in  the  process  of  manufacture,  and  reduced  to  a  pul- 
verized state;  bituminous  coal  containing  sulphur,  and  stored  in  very 
large  quantity. 

"Now  what  of  moist  vegetable  substances?  Commonly  we  should; 
infer  that  moisture  would  prevent  combustion.  In  order  to  burn,  such 
things  must  be  dry.  Hay  in  a  barn  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  In  fact, 
if  spontaneous  combustion  does  occur  in  a  haymow,  you  may  be  assured 
that  the  igniting  portion  is  dry  at  the  time.  What  "takes  place  before 
combustion  is  possible?  At  best  it  is  hard  to  make  all  conditions  such 
that  spontaneous  combustion  can  occur.  Hence  one  requisite  is  very  in- 
flammable material.  Green  grass  or  partially  dried  grass  cannot  possibly 
ignite  in  this  way.  In  truth  such  material  has  not  the  slightest  tendency 
o  become  warm  on  its  own  account.  Familiar  as  the  phenomenon  is, 
green  vegetation  thrown  into  a  heap  does  not  spontaneously  heat.  If 
there  were  any  way  of  keeping  living  organisms  out  of  such  a  mass  there 
would  be  no  generation  of  heat  whatever.  Green  stuff  would  keep  cool 
just  as  certainly  as  the  most  thoroughly  dried  material.  But  under  all 
ordinary  conditions,  minute  living  things  are  abundant  on  grass  when 
ever  cut  and  collected.  They  must  have  moisture  to  live.  When,  how- 
ever, moist  nutrient  material  is  present,  they  do  possess  the  peculiar 
power  of  forming  what  we  call  fermentation.  In  this  process  heat  is  one 
of  the  results,  the  chemical  changes  being  fairly  equivalent  to,  though  not 
identical  with  those  of  combustion.  Under  favorable  conditions  the  degree 
of  temperature  due  to  these  organisms  may  rise  until  it  becomes  injurious 
to  their  physiological  functions,  when  it  can  rise  no  higher.  If  the  mass 
still  continues  moist,  no  other  means  are  known  whereby  this  tempera- 
ture can  be  increased  through  any  internal  combinations  or  changes 
whatever.  Spontaneous  combustion  is  an  impossibility.  Hence,  no  silo 
filled  with  material  containing  water  enough  to  keep  moist  through  the 
fermenting  process  can  possibly  burn.  The  upper  limit  of  temperature 
for  these  micro-organisms  is  pretty  definitely  ascertained,  viz.  about  145 
degrees  Fahr.  is  about  the  upper  extreme  if  the  bodies  are  immersed  in 
water.  The  micro-organisms  referred  to,  are  minute  plants,  and  though 
not  killed  by  temperature  fatal  to  grass  and  beans,  are  just  as  effectually 
prevented  from  development  at  a  given  degree  of  heat.  Now  145  degrees 
Fahr.  is  scalding  hot,  but  it  lacks  a  long  way  of  being  sufficient  to  ignite 
such  fairly  combustible  matter  as  dry  hay.  In  other  words,  heat  due  to- 
f  errrlentation  by  living  organisms  is  never  sufficient  to  cause  the  ignition 
of  vegetable  matter,  whether  moist  or  thoroughly  dry. 

1 '  Let  us  see,  however,  what  else  occurs.  As  true  fermentation  pro- 
gresses, water  is  consumed  as  well  as  the  nutrient  material  in  which  the 


90  CLOVER  CUI/TURE. 

•destructive  process  occurs.  Along-  with  the  carbonic  acid  formed,  there 
is  separated  a  considerable  amount  of  free  hydrogen, the  inflammable  sub- 
stance of  common  illuminating  gas.  If  now,  the  water  supply  becomes 
•exhausted,  the  micro-organisms  die,  or  at  least  their  activity  ceases  and 
fermentation  stops.  If  there  is  any  further  rise  in  temperature  it  is  not 
due  to  fermentation,  but  to  the  spontaneous  oxygenation  similar  to  that 
•which  occurs  in  cott6n  waste.  Such  oxygenation  can  only  occur,  as  was 
before  said,  when  the  body  is  porous  enough  to  admit  the  air,  and  rise  oi 
temperature  can  only  take  place  when  the  generated  heat  is  prevented 
from  escaping.  The  greater  the  mass,  the  more  favorable  the  condition 
for  this  last.  The  dryer  this  mass,  the  more  inflammable  it  is,  and  the 
more  pronounced  becomes  its  non-conducting  quality  in  regard  to  heat. 
It  may  be  said  by  some  that  little  moisture,  as  in  the  case  of  coal,  favor* 
spontaneous  combustion;  but  this  is  only  true  when  by  some  chemical 
action  the  hydrogen  of  the  water  is  liberated,  a  process  not  likely  to 
occur  in  heated  herbage. 

From  this  it  may  be  inferred: 

1st.  That  spontaneous  combustion  of  stored  vegetable  matter  ma}' 
occur. 

2nd.  That  this  can  take  place  only  when  a  considerable  number  of 
conditions  are  favorable  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

3rd  That  just  enough  moisture  to  allow  very  active  fermentation 
to  proceed  for  a  time  and  then  become  exhausted,  is  one  of  these  con- 
ditions. 

4th.  That  great  bulk  and  exposure  to  heating  effects  of  the  sun  (ag 
under  an  unventilated  roof)  with  the  above  (3rd.)  may  be  considered 
seriously  dangerous. 

5th.  That  contrary  to  this  no  such  danger  threatens  silos  as  usually 
filled,  however  hot  the  material  seems  to  become." 


CLOVERS  IN  THE  ROTATION. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

No  permanent  system  of  advanced  farming  is  possible 
without  the  adoption  of  some  kind  of  rotation  of  crops.  In 
the  very  nature  of  things  the  operations  of  the  farm  can  not 
be  conducted  profitably  by  the  growth  of  but  one  crop.  There 
are,  it  is  true,  temporary  conditions,  as  for  example,  when  the 
country  is  new,  land  cheap  and  farm  machinery  at  hand  adapt- 
ed to  large  operations,  under  which,  for  the  time  being,  farming 
can  be  conducted  on  the  ranch  or  bonanza  system,  as  for  exam- 
ple, the  growth  of  wheat  at  the  present  time  in  the  Dakotas. 
These  conditions  last  but  for  a  brief  period,  as  is  evidenced 
by  the  constant  removal  of  farming  operations  of  this  class  to 
newer  and  cheaper  lands  of  the  farther  west.  Profitable 
farming,  under  ordinary  conditions,  requires  the  employment 
of  labor,  whether  of  the  farmer  himself  or  hired  help,  for  the 
entire  year,  and  hence  sooner  or  later  must  come  diversity 
of  crops,  and,  later  still,  systematic  rotation,  t  No  instance 
has  yet  occurred  in  the  history  of  agriculture  where  the  land 
has  been  of  such  natural  fertility  that  it  could  endure  contin- 
uous cropping  in  anyone  variety  of  grain.  The  constant  de- 
mand made  on  the  soil  by  one  crop  for  potash,  phosphoric 
acid  or  nitrogen,  speedily  exhausts  it  of  one  or  all  of  these 
essential  elements  of  fertility.  No  matter  which  is  exhausted, 
the  land,  for  the  time  being,  becomes  barren.  Nature,<  it  is 
true,  does  not  allow  of  complete  exhaustion,  but  when  the 
exhaustion  of  any  one  of  these  elements  has  gone  so  far  as  to 
prohibit  the  growth  of  paying  crops,  the  land,  so  far  as  com- 
mercial purposes  are  concerned,  is  exhausted.  The  exhaus- 

(Qi) 


*)2  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

tion  of  the  nitrogen  is  usually  first,  for  the  reason  that  this 
most  costly  element  is  more  easily  washed  out  of  the  soil  by 
rains  during  that  part  of  the  summer  season  when  it  is  not 
•covered  with  some  kind  of  growing  crop.  There  are  other 
reasons,  in  addition  to  the  failure  in  the  supply  ot  nitrogen, 
that  prevents  continuous  cropping  by  the  same  plant.  A  nota- 
ble instance  of  this  is  the  refusal  of  even  the  best  corn  lands  in 
the  West  to  grow  profitable  corn  crops  in  succession  for  very 
many  years.  The  corn  -  root  worm  ( Diabrotica  Longi- 
tornis]  ki  many  portions  of  the  West  begins  its  operations  in 
a  small  way  the  first  year.  The  damage  is  more  noticeable 
the  second  and  third  years,  and  wherever  this  pest  has  made 
its  appearance  it  usually  reduces  the  crop  below  what  should 
be  regarded  as  a  paying  basis. 

Long  continued  growth  of  successive  crops  of  winter 
wheat  on  the  same  land  gives  every  opportunity  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  Hessian  fly,  which  lays  its  eggs  in  the  volunteer 
crop  that  springs  up  after  harvest.  The  smuts,  rusts  and 
other  fungus  diseases  multiply  rapidly  when  a  large  acreage 
of  spring  and  winter  wheat  is  sown  in  the  same  vicinity,  and 
especially  when  sown  repeatedly  upon  the  same  lands.  It  is 
only  a  question  of  time  when  Nature  comes  in  with  her  im- 
perative command,  "Rotate  or  cease  to  grow  profitable 
crops. ' ' 

A  rotation,  to  be  profitable,  must  embody  several  distinct 
features.  It  must  comprise  crops  that  mature  in  different 
seasons  of.  the  year  in  order  that  the  labor  of  the  farm  may 
find  profitable  employment.  This  is  imperative.  It  should 
consist  of  crops  for  which  the  ground  can  be  prepared  and  the 
planting  done  at  different  periods  of  the  year.  It  should  con- 
sist of  crops  that  draw  as  far  as  possible  on  different  elements 
ot  fertility  in  the  soil,  and  if  possible,  of  some  crop  which  re- 
stores the  elements  of  fertility  which  have  been  exhausted  by 
other  crops.  It  should  embrace  both  grain  crops  and  forage 
•crops.  And  finaWy,  it  should  consist  of  one  or  more  cleaning 
oops;  that  is,  crops  that  either  smother  out  weeds  or  furnish 
ample  opportunity  for  destroying  them  in  the  cultivation  de- 
manded ,  for  other  reasons,  by  the  crop.  For  the  above  reas- 
ons, rotations  wherever  adopted  should  contain  as  far  as  pos- 
.sible  grain  crops,  grass  crops  and  hoed  crops,  by  the  latter 
being  meant  such  crops  as  require  tillage  in  some  form  during 
their  period  of  growth,  as  for  instance,  corn  and  potatoes  in 
America,  and  potatoes,  turnips,  mangels,  beets,  etc.,  in  Bu- 
xope.  As  all  ordinary  rotations  must  necessarily  contain 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  93 

shallow  rooting  crops,  such  as  wheat,  oats  and  corn,  they 
should  also  contain  deep  rooting  crops,  such  as  the  clovers 
and  what  are  known  ordinarily  as  root  crops. 

Having  thus  described  the  general  features  of  desirable 
rotations,  it  remains  to  inquire  how  far  the  clovers  meet  the 
wants  of  the  fanner  who  is  selecting  a  profitable  rotation  for 
his  own  land,  his  own  tastes  and  his  own  market. 

As  a  cleaning  crop  the  clovers  surpass  all  of  the  so-called 
hoed  crops  in  America.  While  hoed  or  cultivated  crops,  such 
for  example  as  corn,  potatoes,  mangels,  beets,  etc.,  afford 
abundant  facilities  for  the  destruction  of  weeds  that  germinate 
prior  to  July  ist  (cultivation  being  then  for  the  most  part  sus- 
pended by  the  conditions  of  the  crop  as  well  as  the  necessities 
of  the  farmer)  clover  smothers  out  these  as  well  as  the  weeds 
that  germinate  later,  which  are  usually  as  destructive  as  those 
which  germinate  in  the  spring.  A  weed  once  sprouted  and 
then  smothered  is  as  completely  destroyed  as  when  it  is  killed 
by  the  use  of  the  plow  or  the  cultivator.  Farmers  often  find 
that  corn  lands  that  have  been  kept  scrupulously  clean  until 
July  ist,  are  foul  with  smart  weed,  hog  weed,  cocklebur  and 
other  no  less  noxious  weeds,  and  that  there  is  no  method 
of  destroying  them  after  cultivation  has  ceased  except  by  the 
generally  impracticable  method  of  hand  weeding.  The  longer 
land  is  continuously  in  corn,  the  more  foul  under  ordinary 
circumstances  does  it  become,  especially  in  the  Western 
states.  No  matter  how  foul  land  has  become,  it  is  compara- 
tively clean  after  it  has  been  in  clover  even  for  two  years.  As 
a  deep-rooting  crop  the  clovers  have  no  equal,  especially  the 
red,  mammoth  and  alfalfa. 

In  supplying  the  nitrogen  upon  which  all  the  grain  crops 
draw  to  such  an  extent,  the  clovers  are  invaluable  and  the 
more  so,  because,  as  we  have  before  stated,  they  alone  of 
all  the  crops  in  general  cultivation  in  America  have  the  power 
of  obtaining  their  supply  of  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere. 
It  is  true  that  beans,  peas  and  other  legumes  have  the  same 
power,  but  their  cultivation  is  too  limited  to  enter  largely 
into  rotation  crops.  For  the  reasons  above  given,  the  clovers 
form  an  essential  part  of  the  rotation  in  every  part  of  the 
world  where  advanced  systems  of  agriculture  have  been  es- 
tablished. 

The  only  objection  to  the  clovers,  where  it  is  practicable 
to  grow  them  in  America,  is  that  the  care  of  the  first  crop  to- 
some  extent  interferes  with  the  cultivation  of  corn  and  the 
harvesting  of  the  grains.  It  is  one  of  the  standing  regrets  of 


-94  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

foreign  writers  on  agr' culture  that  clover  can  not  be  grown 
•either  in  Great  Britain  or  on  the  Continent  except  as  a  part 
•of  a  long  rotation,  and  hence  short  rotations  have  to  be  aban- 
doned. Fortunately  as  yet,  it  can  be  grown  in  any  desired 
rotation  in  most  parts  bf  the  United  States. 

It  is  possible  to  form  an  indefinite  number  of  rotations  by 
the  use  of  the  red,  mammoth  and  alsike  clovers.  The  ten- 
dency in  all  countries  is  to  begin  with  a  short  rotation  and  to 
•extend  rotations  as  agriculture  becomes  more  diversified. 
Farmers  usually  begin  in  the  new  countries  with  the  crop  for 
which  the  land  is  best  adapted  and  which  brings  the  best  cash 
price,  and  continue  with  that  until  compelled  to  alternate 
with  some  other  crop.  The  bulk  of  new  lands  in  the  corn 
regions  are  planted  in  corn  year  after  year,  and  when  corn  be- 
gins to  fail  alternated  with  oats,  spring  wheat  or  barley.  The 
difficulty  with  any  of  these  rotations  is  that  they  draw  excess- 
ively on  the  stored  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  especially  of  the 
nitrogen,  and  the  first  move  toward  the  adoption  of  a  better 
rotation  is  the  introduction  of  clover.  The  rotation  then 
stands: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Oats,  barley  or  spring  wheat  seeded  in  con- 
nection with  clover.  Where  a  good  stand  of  clover  is  secured 
the  crop  can  be  turned  under  and  again  planted  to  corn  with 
manifest  advantage.  This  is  the  shortest  rotation  possible. 
A  manifest  improvement  on  this  rotation  is: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Oats,  barley  or  spring  wheat  sown  with 
clover;  3.  Clover  meadow  and  seed  crop. 

This  makes  a  3-years'  rotation  and  the  meadow  can  be 
turned  under  and  again  planted  in  corn.  This  is  perhaps  the 
Ibest  rotation  possible  where  the  aim  is  to  get  the  largest  pos- 
sible amount  of  immediate  cash  crops  from  the  land,  and  at 
the  same  time  secure  a  large  amount  of  hay  for  consumption 
on  the  farm.  It  involves  plowing  the  ground  but  once  in 
three  years,  oats  and  other  spring  grains  being  cultivated  in 
without  plowing.  The  seed  crop,  if  the  mammoth  variety  is 
used,  is  ordinarily  a  paying  crop,  and  if  the  manure  is  return- 
ed to  the  meadow  after  the  seed  is  taken  off,  there  is  no  reason 
why  fertility  should  not  be  kept  up  for  an  almost  indefinite 
period. 

Where  the  farmer  is  engaged  more  largely  in  livestock 
production,  and  especially  where  he  has  no  permanent  pasture 
in  connection  with  his  corn  lands,  the  following  is  an  improve- 
ment on  the  above  rotation: 

i.   Corn;  2.  Oats,  spring  wheat  or  barley,  sown  to  clover 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  95 

and  timothy;  3.   Clover  and  timothy  meadow;  4.  Pasture. 

If  the  manure  is  carefully  saved  and  returned  to  the  pas- 
ture before  plowing  under  for  the  next  crop  of  corn,  lands 
under  this  rotation  should  increase  in  fertility  from  year  to 
year. 

In  latitudes  where  spring  wheat  is  a  failure  and  barley 
unprofitable  on  account  of  climatic  conditions,  the  following 
rotation  may  be  used  to  great  advantage: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Oats;  3.  Winter  wheat  sown  to  timothy  in 
the  fall  and  clover  the  following  spring;  4.  Clover  and  timo- 
thy for  meadow;  5.  Pasture. 

This  can  readily  be  changed  on  strong  lands  to  a  six-crop 
rotation  by  taking  two  successive  crops  of  corn.  In  this  rota- 
tion the  land  is  plowed  but  twice,  once  for  corn  and  once  for 
winter  wheat,  if  the  six-year  course  is  not  adopted. 

Some  Missouri  farmers  have  adopted  the  following  ro- 
tation: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Oats  sown  with  clover;  3.  Clover  meadow;  4. 
Wheat  sown  with  timothy;  5.  Timothy  meadow:  6.  Pasture, 
upon  which 'manure  is  applied. 

This  rotation  would  be  improved  by  sowing  the  wheat  to 
clover  as  well  as  timothy.  Here  again  we  have  but  two  plow- 
ings  in  the  rotation,  or  one  in  three  years.  The  clover  mead- 
ow, it  the  conditions  of  the  ground  admit  of  early  plowing, 
furnishes  one  of  the  best  possible  preparations  for  wheat, 
while  the  wheat  furnishes  the  best  opportunity  for  securing  a 
stand  of  timothy,  and  the  pasture  following  the  timothy  gives 
an  excellent  opportunity  for  the  application  of  manure  to  be 
plowed  under  in  the  fall  as  a  preparation  for  corn  the  first 
course  in  the  succeeding  period  of  the  rotation. 

In  sections  west  of  the  Missouri  where  the  tame  grasses 
can  not  be  grown  successfully  with  a  nurse  crop,  we  venture 
to  suggest  the  following  rotation: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Mammoth  clover;  3.  Wheat;  4.  Mixed  clo- 
vers and  orchard  grass;  5.  Meadow;  6.  Pasture;  7.  Pasture. 

The  objections  to  this  rotation  are  that  two  years  out  of 
seven  there  is  no  money  crop.  The  objection  has  much  force, 
and  yet  we  believe  that  the  increased  returns  from  the  other 
five  years  will  much  more  than  make  up  for  the  apparent  loss 
of  the  crops  of  the  two  years  in  which  the  grasses  are  being 
established.  We  suggest  that  the  mammoth  clover  be  sown 
on  corn  stalks  as  early  in  the  spring  as  practicable.  When  a 
stand  is  obtained,  the  crop  could  be  turned  under  in  August 
in  time  to  prepare  the  ground  thoroughly  fora  wheat  crop; 


96  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

or,  it  could  be  pastured  with  advantage  during  the  months  of 
July  and  August.  The  land  being  in  excellent  heart  the 
fourth  year  should  furnish  a  fine  crop  of  mixed  clovers,  and  or- 
chard grass,  which  would  during  the  fall  months  afford  a  large 
amount  of  pasture.  We  make  the  above  suggestion  merely 
as  a  matter  worthy  of  trial,  not  only  at  the  experiment  stations, 
but  in  a  small  way  by  the  farmers  themselves.  Should  the  soy 
bean  meet  the  expectations  of  those  who  are  best  acquainted 
with  its  value,  it  could  be  substituted  for  the  mammoth  clover. 
The  soy  beans  could  be  removed  in  time  for  a  wheat  crop, 
leaving  the  land  in  excellent  condition  for  seeding  without 
plowing,  and  thus  one  year's  loss  of  the  use  of  the  land  be 
avoided.  The  reason  for  using  orchard  grass  is  that  it  suc- 
ceeds admirably,  even  on  quite  dry  soils  far  west  of  the  Mis- 
souri. It  furnishes  in  connection  with  clover  a  very  superior 
aftermath,  but  the  cost  of  the  seed  is  so  great  that  it  should 
not  be  plowed  up  for  at  least  two  or  three  years  after  sowing. 

Some  Minnesota  farmers  have  adopted  with  great  advan- 
tage the  following  rotation: 

i.  Corn;  2.  Barley;  3.  Spring  wheat;  4.  Oats  sown  with 
clover  and  timothy;  5.  Clover  and  timothy  meadow;  6.  Pas- 
ture. 

This  rotation  has  resulted  in  a  very  great  increase  of  the 
fertility  of  the  land  for  the  time  being,  but  lands  must  be 
very  fertile  indeed  to  endure  four  grain  crops  in  succession 
without  the  use  of  clover. 

We  have  given  these  examples  of  rotation  in  use  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  West,  not  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the 
subject  of  rotations,  but  to  show  how  essential  clover  is  to 
any  rotation  that  will  secure  large  crops  and  at  the  same  time 
conserve  the  fertility  of  the  land. 

A  rotation  specially  adapted  for  locations  where  winter 
wheat  is  a  reliable  crop,  and  where  potatoes  by  reason  of 
market  facilities  are  profitable,  is, 

i.  Clover;  2.  Potatoes;  3.  Winter  wheat. 

This  in  many  respects  is  an  admirable  rotation.  In  fact 
it  fulfills  all  the  requirements  of  an  ideal  rotation.  Clover 
turned  under  early  in  the  fall,  say  in  August  or  September, 
forms  the  very  best  preparation  for  a  large  and  profitable  crop 
of  potatoes.  The  clover  being  in  itself  an  admirable  cleaning 
crop,  the  culture  of  potatoes  is  an  easy  matter.  There  are 
comparatively  few  weed  seeds  to  germinate  and  give  trouble, 
and  these  can  be  easily  kept  down  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
potatoes.  It  besides  furnishes  in  available  form  and  in  great 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  97 

abundance  the  elements  of  fertility  which  the  potato  needs. 
The  potatoes  in  turn  can  be  removed  from  the  ground  in  time 
for  a  crop  of  winter  wheat,  with  or  without  plowing,  prefera- 
bly without,  as  the  potato  ground  furnishes  the  solid  bottom 
for  the  seed  bed,  with  loose,  mellow  soil  on  top.  Wheat  can 
be  planted  on  this  with  a  press  drill  as  early  as  desirable,  and 
speedy  and  vigorous  germination  will  follow.  Winter  wheat, 
again,  is  one  of  the  best  nurse  crops  for  clover.  We  do  not 
see  why  the  fertility  under  this  rotation  should  not  remain 
almost  constant,  and,  if  top  dressing  of  manure  is  applied  with 
the  clover,  why  it  should  not  increase  from  year  to  year,  the 
clover  increasing  the  supply  of  nitrogenous  compounds  and 
the  slow  disintegration  of  the  minute  particles  of  rock,  of 
which  the  soil  so  largely  consists,  keeping  up  the  supply  of 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid.  We  advise  farmers  situated  in 
the  winter  wheat  regions  where  potatoes  are  a  profitable  crop 
to  adopt  it. 


CLOVER  IN  FEEDING  RATIONS, 


CHAPTER  X. 

No  practical  work  on  clover  culture  would  be  complete 
without  a  clear  and  definite  statement  of  the  use  and  value  of 
the  different  varieties,  both  as  pasture  and  forage,  in  the  feed- 
ing ration  needed  for  different  kinds  of  stock  under  different 
conditions  and  circumstances.  American  farmers  are  but  be- 
ginning to  discuss  this  important  matter,  and  the  more  expen- 
sive the  various  articles  of  stock  feed  become  on  account  of  the 
higher  price  of  land  and  labor,  the  more  important  and  indeed 
essential  it  will  be  to  learn  how  to  feed  thjm  to  advantage,  and 
with  the  least  waste,  whether  of  the  clovers  or  other  parts  of 
the  ration.  The  problem  is  usually  regarded  as  too  abstruse 
and  difficult  for  the  practical,  every-dayfarmer.  While  there 
are  many  difficulties  connected  with  this  problem,  and  even 
those  best  informed  on  the  subject  have  much  to  learn,  the 
elementary  principles  are  simple  enough.  It  is  obvious  from 
a  moment's  reflection,  that  every  part  of  the  animal  frame 
must  be  derived  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  plant.  No 
animal  can  live  on  air  alone,  or  upon  the  soil  on  which  it 
treads.  In  the  story  of  the  creation  we  are  told  that  the  herb 
yielding  seed  and  the  tree  yielding  fruit  were  created  before 
either  man  or  animal  was  formed  to  consume  them.  This  is 
simple  enough.  While  the  frame  of  the  animal  is  mostly 
carbon  and  nitrogen,  both  elements  of  the  air  it  breathes, 
there  is  no  possible  way  in  which  they  can  become  part  of  it 
except  through  the  medium  of  plant  food.  The  flesh  and  food- 
forming  elements  of  the  animal  must  first  appear  in  the  plant. 
The  plant  is  the  medium  through  which  the  materials  exist- 
ing in  earth  and  air  become  adapted  to  the  life  of  the  animal. 
The  most  costly  element  in  all  food,  either  of  the  animal  or 
the  plant,  is  in  the  form  of  nitrogenous  compounds  of  different 
kinds,  which  we  group  under  the  one  term,  nitrogen.  Some 
writers  call  it  protein,  some  albuminoids,  but  all  three  mean 
practically  the  same  thing,  the  flesh-forming  elements  of  the 
food.  The  atmosphere  which  the  animal  breathes  is  foui- 


CULTURE.  99 

fifths  nitrogen,  which  is  the  base  of  all  these  compounds,  and 
yet  the  animal  inevitably  starves  to  death  unless  it  has  a  sup- 
ply of  these  compounds  of  nitrogen  through  the  plant,  or  iu 
case  of  carnivorous  animals,  through  the  flesh  of  other  animals, 
or  insects  which  has  in  turn  been  derived  from  the  plant. 
The  same  remarks  apply  to  the  carbonaceous,  that  is,  the 
elements  that  are  consumed  to  maintain  the  animal  heat,  and 
that  are  stored  away  in  the  system  as  fat,  and  also  to  the  min- 
eral elements  which  make  up  bone.  Of  whatever  the  animal 
frame  may  consist,  whether  bone,  flesh  or  fat,  it  must  have 
been  fed  into  it  either  in  the  plant  or  the  milk  of  its  dam  or 
the  flesh  of  other  animals,  and  therefore  must  come  through 
its  food.  While  carbonaceous  substances  compose  by  far  the 
largest  part  of  animal  food  and  animal  forms,  it  has  been  very 
clearly  demonstrated  that  the  animal  fed  on  purely  carbon- 
aceous food,  such  as  sugar  or  starch,  will  speedily  starve,  no 
matter  how  abundant  the  food;  and  it  has  been  as  clearly 
proved  that  foods  having  an  excess  of  nitrogen  when  fed  to 
herbivorous  animals  will  sooner  or  later  produce  disease  and 
death.  It  seems  that  when  carbonaceous  elements  are  lacking 
the  system  can  use  nitrogenous  compounds  for  keeping  up  the 
animal  heat,  just  as  for  lack  of  coal  we  may  burn  wood  in  the 
stove.  But  the  carbonaceous  elements  can  not  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  building  up  either  the  muscular  system,  or  the 
skeleton,  commonly  called  by  scientists,  the  osseous  or  bony 
system.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  much  of  the  success  in 
stock  feeding  depends  upon  supplying  these  elements  as  nearly 
as  possible  in  their  proper  proportion,  feeding  nitrogenous 
food  in  the  proportion  in  which  it  is  required  ior  growth  and 
repair  of  waste,  carbonaceous  foods  in  the  proportion  in  which 
they  are  needed  for  keeping  up  the  animal  heat  and  finishing 
the  animal  for  the  shambles,  and  furnishing  mineral  elements 
in  the  proportion  needed  for  the  growth  of  the  osseous  system. 
In  compounding  feeding  rations,  as  in  every  thing  else, 
Nature  is  the  best  teacher.  She  emphasizes  in  the  most  em- 
phatic way  the  necessity  of  a  balanced  ration.  She  provides 
in  the  milk  for  the  young  of  each  race,  a  ration  composed  of 
the  materials  in  the  due  proportion  that  each  needs,  and  man 
soon  finds  out  that  if  he  interferes  and  takes  away  the  carbo- 
hydrates or  the  albuminoids,  as  for  example  the  fat,  from  the 
milk  in  the  shape  of  cream,  or  the  albuminoids  in  the  shape 
of  cheese,  the  young  fail  to  reach  their  proper  development, 
pine  away  or  perhaps  die.  The  skim-milk  calf,  for  example, 
unless  the  balance  is  kept  ur»  bv  means  of  cheaper  fats,  is 


HOC  CLOVER  CUI/TUREv. 

-always  a  sorry  looking  object.  The  whey  calf  fares  still  worse, 
because  the  subject  of  a  greater  robbery,  but  neither  of  them 
fares  very  much  worse  than  the  calf,  the  milk  of  whose  dam 
is  too  rich  in  fats.  Nature  insists  on  a  balanced  ration,  and 
-can  not  be  prevented  from  taking  her  revenge  on  those  who 
violate  her  laws.  When  either  albuminoids  or  carbo-hydrates, 
or  in  other  words,  nitrogenous  or  carbonaceous  compounds  are 
.fed  in  excess  of  the  \vants  of  the  animal,  the  surplus  is  wasted. 
It  is  worse  than  wasted,  for  digestion  has  meanwhile  gone  on, 
and  the  system  having  no  use  for  the  digested  matter  beyond 
its  capacity  to  assimilate,  can  do  nothing  else  than  void  it. 
This  is  a  waste,  not  merely  of  the  animal  food,  but  of  the 
animal  forces.  For  example,  the  animal  at  a  certain  stage  of 
its  existence  demands  a  ration  composed  ofi  of  albuminoids  to 
•6  of  carbo-hydrates,  which  we  express  as  follows:  1:6,  and  if 
fed  corn  exclusively,  having,  let  us  suppose,  a  ratio  of  1:9,  or 
i  of  albuminoids  to  9  of  carbo-hydrates;  then  one-third  of  the 
carbo-hydrates  is  clearly  wasted.  If,  however,  to  this  corn 
ration  be  added  bran  or  oil  meal  in  quantities  sufficient  to 
make  a  ratio  of  i  :6,  then  is  the  corn  fully  utilized  as  is  also 
the  added  food. 

The  western  states  have  a  great  excess  of  carbo-hydrates, 
an  excess  rendered  all  the  greater  by  the  continuous  shipment 
•abroad  of  wheat  and  oil  meal  and  livestock,  and  rendered  all 
the  greater  locally  by  the  shipment  of  livestock  to  the  great 
•cities  and  wheat  to  the  great  milling  centers.  It  therefore 
-stands  in  need  of  a  fodder  rich  in  albuminoids  to  balance  up 
the  too  carbonaceous  corn  stalks  and  straw  that  are  left  for 
feed  on  the  farm.  It  also  needs  a  ration  having  albuminoids 
in  excess  for  finishing  stock  for  the  feed  lot  in  order  to  avoid 
the  expense  of  providing  albuminoids  in  the  form  of  bran  and 
oil  meal.  To  meet  the  first  want  the  clovers  furnish  an  am- 
ple supply  if  properly  handled.  The  second  want  which  is 
supplied  in  other  countries  by  peas,  beans  and  turnips,  will 
-doubtless  be  met  in  time,  by  some  legume  adapted  to  the  cli- 
mate and  soil,  possibly  the  soy  bean.  Great  as  is  the  value 
of  the  clovers  in  supplying  .nitrogen  to  the  soil,  they  are 
scarcely  less  valuable  as  a  source  of  albuminoids  with  which 
to  balance  up  our  excessively  carbonaceous  foods.  In  order 
that  the  reader  may  see  the  value  of  the  clovers  for  this  pur- 
pose, we  give  the  following  tables,  showing  the  amount  of 
dry  organic  matter  and  also  of  digestible  albuminoids,  carbo- 
hydrates and  fat  that  are  required  by  different  animals  and  01 
the  same  animal  in  different  stages  of  its  growth,  and  when 
fed  for  different  purposes: 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


TABLE  I.— POUNDS  PER  DAY  REQUIRED  FOR  1000  POUNDS  LIVE  WEIGHT.. 


O   3J 

0    gj 

Digestible  constituents 

"£    * 

* 

"S  ® 

M 

£  a 

i« 

oj 

-  a 

Jo 

3~  * 

*lj8 

,0*     . 

fc*  ij  * 

^  o5 

*    ®    M 

]§ 

Q     fl3  f^ 

—  '   H.Q 

cQ  & 

O  -1C  ^Q 

PI 

H  bcJ 

<J        A 

O      A 

fenJ 

H*3  J 

ft 

Oxen  at  rest  in  stall  

17.5 

0.7 

8.0 

0.15 

8.85 

1:12.0 

Oxen  at  medium  work 

34.5 

1.6 

11.3 

0.30 

13.20 

1:7.5 

Oxen  at  hard  work  

36.0 

2.4 

13.2 

0.50 

16.10 

1:6.0 

30.0 

1.5 

9  5 

0.40 

11.40 

1:7.0 

Horses  at  medium  work  

31.0 

1.7 

10.7 

0.60 

13.00 

1:7.0 

Horses  at  hard  work  

34.0 

2.4 

12.5 

0.80 

15.70 

1:6.0 

Milch  cows  

34.0 

2.5 

12.5 

0.40 

15.40 

1:5.4 

Fattening  steers,  1st  period.  . 

27.0 

2.5 

15.0 

0.50 

18.00 

1:6.5 

Fattening  steers,  2d  period  .  . 

36.0 

3.0 

14.8 

0  70 

18.50 

1:5.5 

Fattening  steers,  3d  period  .  . 

25.0 

2.7 

14.8 

0.60 

18.10 

1:6.0 

Sheep,  wool  producing,coarse 

20.0 

1.2 

10.3 

020 

11.70 

1:9.0 

Sheep,  wool  producing,  fine.  . 

22.5 

1.5 

11.4 

0.25 

13.15 

1:8.0 

Fattening  sheep,  1st  period.  . 

36.0 

3.0 

15.3 

0.50 

18.70 

1:5.5 

Fattening  sheep,  2d  period.. 

25.0 

3.5 

14.4 

0.60 

18.50 

1:4.5 

Fattening  swine,  1st  period.  . 

36.0 

5.0 

27.5 

32.50 

1:5.5 

Fattening  swine,  3d  period.. 

31.0 

4.0 

24.0 

28.00 

1:6.0 

Fattening  swine,  3d  period.  . 

2t.5 

2.7 

17.5 

20.20 

1:6.5 

TABLE  II.— POUNDS  PER  DAY  PER  HEAD. 


O  Q? 

Digestible  constituents 

•£      . 

cfl 

• 

•S  a 

a 

^  s 

—  .  g 

0)     . 

£  .£: 

—  «  o 

32 

0   ® 

."S  "fi 

e«  —  .     . 
-*j   p3  co 

,Q    O 

S'SjS 

+a    v: 

"^  °  o5 

3 

H  toA 

<5       A 

0      1-5 

felJ 

H  **  t-3 

^ 

GROWING  CATTLE. 

Age  —  mos.     Average  weight. 

2  to   3                 150  ft>s. 

3.3 

0.6 

2.1 

0  30 

3.00 

1:4.7 

3  "     6                 300    " 

7.0 

1.0 

4.1 

0.30 

5.40 

1:5.0- 

6  "  Is                 500    " 

12.0 

1.3 

6.8 

0.30 

8.40 

1:6.0 

12  "  18                 700    " 

16.8 

1.4 

9.1 

0.28 

10.78 

1:7.0 

18  "  24                 850    " 

20.4 

1.4 

10.3 

0.26 

11.96 

1:8.0 

GROWING   SHEEP. 

5  to    6                   56  ibs. 

1.6 

0.18 

0.87 

0.045 

1.095 

1:5.5 

6  "     8                   68    " 

1.7 

0.17 

0.85 

0.040 

1.060 

1:5.5 

8  "  11                   76    " 

1.7 

0.16 

0.85 

0.037 

1.047 

1:6.0 

11  "  15                   82    " 

1.8 

0.14 

0.89 

0.032 

1  06* 

1:7.0- 

15  "  20                   86    " 

1.9 

0.12 

0.88 

0.025 

1.025 

1:8.O 

GROWING  AND    FATTENING  SWINE. 

f  x 

2  to    3                   50  ft)S. 

2.1 

0.38 

1.50 

1.88 

1:4.0- 

3  "     5                  100    " 

3.4 

0  50 

2.50 

3.00 

1:5.0, 

5  "     6                 125    " 

39 

0.54 

2.96 

3.50 

1:5:5. 

6  ««     8                 170    " 

4.6 

0.58 

3.47 

4.05 

1:6.6 

8  "   12                  250     " 

5.  2 

cute 

4.05 

4.67 

1:6.5 

These  are  German  tables  and  the  weights  do  not  in  all  cases  corre- 


102 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


spond  with  those  custom «ry  f  >r  stock  of  like  ages  in  this  country,  but 
this  does  not  affect  the  principle  the  tables  are  here  adduced  to  illustrate. 

To  show  how  inefficient  our  non-leguminous  grains  and 
grasses  are  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  above  tables,  we 
give  the  digestible  nutrients  shown  by  the  analyses  of  the 
non-leguminous  grains  and  fodders  that  are  grown  in  the 
West,  and  that  form  the  staple  of  the  food  of  our  livestock: 


Albumi- 
noids. 
Per  cent. 

Carbohy- 
drates. 
Per  cent. 

Fat. 
Per  cent. 

Nutritive 
Ratio. 

Corn  

8  36 

64.81 

4  74 

•  9  3 

Oats.  .  .  .  

8.46 

46.11 

3.94 

•  6  5 

Barley                •'.'.     .        

9  64 

60  77 

1  86 

•  e  7 

8  37 

63  1(5 

1  09 

.    7  Q 

Timothy  hay     

3  67 

41  25 

1  03 

•12  7 

Red  top     

4.13 

44  76 

0  94 

•11  3 

Orchard  grass 

4  66 

43  07 

1  08 

'10  4 

Blue  grass  

6.42 

41.96 

1.17 

•  7  1 

Hungarian  gra^s 

3  87 

49  68 

1  22 

1'13  5 

Barley  hay  (seed  in  milk)   .  . 

5  24 

44  82 

1  18 

!•  9  0 

Oat  hay  (seed  in  milk)  

5  07 

43  89 

1  31 

!•  9  2 

2.41 

34.48 

0.47 

1:14.7 

Sowed  corn  fodder,  very  good, 
field  cured  

3.00 

40.00 

0  93 

1*14  0 

Oat  straw 

1  44 

42  62 

0  66 

1*30  0 

Rye  straw                      .... 

1  14 

37  55 

0  59 

1*34  0 

^Vheat  straw         

1  29 

37  70 

0  40 

1'29  0 

Corn  fodder   green.   .  .•.  

1.19 

10  87 

0  31 

!•  9  9  " 

Sorghum,  green  

0.80 

12.26 

0  28 

1*16  0 

Rve  fodder,   srreen.  . 

1.77 

13.38 

0.39 

1:   8.0 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  be  able  to  compare  the 
nutritive  elements  in  the  non-leguminous  grains  and  forage 
with  the  elements  contained  in  the  legumes,  and  thus  form 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  difference  in  the  proportion  or  ratio 
that  exists  between  the  albuminoids  and  carbo-hydrates  of  the 
two  classes,  respectively,  the  following  table  showing  the 
digestible  contents  of  clovers  and  other  leguminous  plants,  is 
appended : 


Albumi- 
noids. 
Per  cent. 

Carbohy- 
drates. 
Per  cent. 

Fat. 
Per  cent. 

Nutritive 
Ratio. 

Red  clover  full  bloom  .       .   . 

11  72 

40  17 

2  75 

1'3  9 

White  clover  in  blossom  

11  27 

40  56 

2  56 

1*4  2 

Alfalfa,  in  bloom  

11.65 

41  05 

1  02 

T3  7 

Beans,  ripe  

22.58 

57  76 

1.87 

1:2.7 

Peas,  green,  dried  substance.. 
Sov  beans.  . 

14.13 
31.14 

65.98 
27.48 

1.51 
15.59 

1:4.9 
1:2.0 

CLOVER  CULTURE.  103 

It  will  be  readily  seen  that  with  certain  ends  to  accom- 
plish, as  for  example,  the  growth  of  the  pig  from  fifty  pounds 
weight  to  a  hundred,  where  a  ratio  of  from  1:4  to  1:5  is  re- 
quired, and  with  no  feed  on  hand  except  corn  with  a  ratio  of 
1:9.3  (see  table  3.)  and  a  deficiency  in  bone  material,  besides, 
there  can  be  but  one  result:  the  frame  becomes  deficient  in 
bone  material  and  the  pig  fine  in  bone,  chuffyand  small;  and 
no  amount  of  corn  fed,  even  with  its  attendant  waste,  can 
properly  develop  its  form.  It  becomes,  under  excessive  corn 
feeding  a  globe  of  fat,  fit  subject  for  every  disease  and  a  source 
-of  continual  disappointment  to  its  unwise  owner. 

If  a  horse  is  to  be  kept  for  hard  work,  involving  great 
waste  of  muscular  tissue,  and  it  is  fed  solely  on  corn,  which  is 
-deficient  in  material  adapted  to  supply  the  waste,  it  is  cleat 
that  it  must  be  fed  much  more  corn  than  under  other  circum- 
stances would  be  necessary.  Hence,  the  preference  for  oats 
as  feed  for  work  horses,  and  of  corn  as  a  food  for  fattening 
mature  cattle  or  hogs.  In  the  last  case,  the  waste  of  muscular 
tissue  is  slight,  while  the  end  in  view  is  the  storing  away  oi 
surplus  fat  in  the  system.  For  this  nothing  is  better  than  corn. 

The  term  "pigs  in  the  clover"  has  become  a  synonym  for 
abundance,  while  feeding  an  exclusive  corn  diet  without  clo- 
ver to  growing  pigs  is  everywhere  condemned  by  good  farm- 
ers as  unprofitable,  and  hence  in  their  experience  is  a  waste 
of  corn.  How  to  avoid  this  and  like  wastes  by  the  use  of 
clover  is  the  problem  now  under  consideration. 

In  the  early  stages  of  their  growth,  all  grasses  have  a 
large  amount  of  nitrogenous  compounds.  The  dry  matter, 
for  example,  of  clover  cut  when  from  three  to  four  inches 
high,  approximates  the  nutritive  value  of  oil  meal,  hence  a  pas- 
ture of  mixed  grasses  in  May  and  the  early  part  of  June  forms 
an  almost  ideal  ration.  As  these  grasses  mature,  the  propor- 
tion of  carbonaceous  compounds  or  carbohydrates  increases  rel- 
atively. Clover  alone  contains  a  sufficiently  large  proportion 
of  nitrogen  to  make  it  valuable  in  balancing  up  rations.  We 
now  inquire  how  this  clover  can  be  used  to  balance  up  the  car- 
bonaceous foods,  and  that,  too,  by  any  farmer  who  has  even 
a  general  idea  of  the  different  elements  in  the  supply  of  food 
at  his  command. 

Nearly  every  farmer  in  the  West  has  a  field  of  cornstalks 
which  he  wishes  to  use  to  the  best  advantage.  Many  farmers 
are  not  prepared  to  build  silos  and  many  others  have  not  the 
labor  at  their  command  at  a  price  which  they  believe  justifies 
them  in  cutting  up  the  corn  and  using  it  as  fodder.  It  re- 


104  ClA/VER  CULTURE. 

quires  labor  to  handle  the  grain  and  fodder  after  husking  and 
to  return  the  stalks  to  the  field  in  the  shape  of  manure.  In  the 
greater  part  of  the  United  States  this  will  pay.  There  are 
portions,  however,  where  the  cornfields  are  very  large  and  the 
supply  of  stock  limited  where  as  yet  this  method  of  saving 
fodder  is  not  believed  to  be  profitable,  and  the  question  before 
us  now  is,  how  these  stalks  can  be  used  to  the  best  advantage. 
Corn  stalks  in  therr  best  estate,  before  bleached  by  rain,  and 
the  leaves  in  which,  with  the  husks,  most  of  the  nitrogenous 
compounds  are  found,  have  a  ratio  of  1:14.7,  a  very  wide  ratio 
it  will  be  seen,  which  becomes  wider,  that  is,  the  proportion 
of  carbohydrates  to  albuminoids  becomes  greater,  every  day 
after  it  is  exposed  to  the  weather.  It  is  entirely  practicable 
for  most  farmers  to  have  in  the  same  field  a  clover  meadow,  and 
to  allow  the  second  crop  or  aftermath  to  remain  untouched 
until  after  the  corn  is  husked  and  the  cattle  are  turned  into  the 
corn  field.  This  clover  aftermath  or  second  crop  has,  before 
being  damaged  by  winter's  rain  or  frost,a  ratio  of  1:2.3.  This 
ratio  becomes  wider  during  the  winter  season,  but  it  does  not 
widen  as  rapidly  as  that  of  the  corn  stalks. 

It  is  now  plain  to  be  seen  that  by  using  this  second  crop 
for  pasturage  in  connection  with  corn  stalks,  a  very  great 
saving  may  be  made  for  stock  cattle  or  milk  cows  or  horses, 
by  allowing  them  to  consume  both  together,  the  excess  oi 
albuminoids  in  the  clover  balancing  the  excess  of  carbohy- 
drates in  the  corn  stalks,  and  together  making  a  fairly  good 
winter  pasture.  No  argument  is  needed  by  any  farmer  who- 
has  once  tried  this  method.  Nor  is  it  alone  in  the  balancing 
up  of  the  ration  that  the  benefit  consists.  There  is  very  little 
danger  of  compaction  of  the  stomach  whe,re  cattle  have  free 
access  to  this  clover  aftermath,  nor  is  there  any  danger  from 
bloating  from  the  clover. 

Every  farmer  who  is  extensively  engaged  in  growing 
wheat,  oats  or  barley  has,  at  his  command,  a  large  amount  of 
straw  which  is  either  burnt  (a  wasteful  habit  which  can  not 
be  too  strongly  condemned)  or  stacked  and  allowed  to  rot  on 
the  fields,  or  perhaps  used  for  bedding.  This  has  a  ratio  of 
1:29  in  case  °f  wheat  straw;  1:30  in  case  of  oats;  1:34  in  case 
of  rye,  with  a  probable  average  ratio  of  1 132.  The  stock  re- 
quire a  ratio  of  say  i  :8.  It  will  be  seen  that  if  the  animal  is 
to  increase  in  size  and  weight  or  even  repair  the  waste  of 
muscular  tissue,  it  must  consume  a  very  large  amount  of  the 
straw  to  get  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  This  straw  has  to  be 
wet  with  a  large  amount  of  water,  the  water  has  to  be  brought 


CLOVER  CUI/TURE.  lOt 

up  to  blood  heat  and  then  the  greater  portion  of  the  carbohy- 
drate's is  wasted.  This  explains  why  cattle  fed  on  foods  of  this 
kind  exclusively  wear  themselves  out  in  the  winter  by  trying 
to  digest  a  great  deal  more  than  the  system  can  assimilate. 
This  waste  may  to  a  great  extent  be  avoided  by  stacking  the 
straw  in  a  clover  field  where  the  aftermath  has  been  allowed  to 
stand,  and  allowing  cattle  free  access  to  both.  Where  this  is 
not  practicable,  the  waste  can  be  avoided  by  feeding  clovei 
and  straw  alternately,  or  by  cutting  and  mixing  both  and 
making  a  complete  ration  by  the  use  of  bran  or  oil  meal. 

For  example,  clover  hay  has  a  ratio  of  1 15. 6.  (We  are 
speaking  now  of  clover  hay  in  its  best  condition  cut  when  the 
heads  are  not  more  than  one-third  brown  and  properly  cured. 
The  feeder  usually  knows  how  far  his  hay  varies  from  this 
standard  whether  by  late  cutting  or  defective  curing.  It 
should  be  noticed  in  either  case  that  the  departure  from  the 
standard  will  be  in  the  loss  of  the  albuminoid  or  protein  ele- 
ments and  therefore  the  less  efficiently  will  it  balance  up  a 
corn  ration.)  The  farmer  has  steers  on  feed,  and  wishes  to 
get  the  best  results  from  his  corn.  This  has  a  ratio  of  1:9.3, 
and  should  be  brought  down  to  a  ratio  of  1:5.5  or  1:6.5.  He 
can  do  this  by  feeding  oil  meal,  shorts  or  bran,  but  he  can 
narrow  this  broad  ration  of  corn  to  some  extent  by  feeding 
clover  hay  for  roughness.  How  far  he  can  narrow  the  ration 
will  depend  on  how  much  clover  hay  he  can  induce  his  cattle 
to  eat  in  the  uncut  state,  and  this  no  one  can  determine  but 
himself. 

When  labor  becomes  cheaper  in  the  West  and  land  audits 
products  dearer,  there  will  be  a  much  greater  opportunity  than 
now  to  use  clover  in  the  feeding  ration.  Clover  hay  will  then 
be  largely  cut  and  mixed  with  ground  food  and  there  is 
scarcely  any  limit  to  the  methods  in  which  it  can  be  used  in 
this  way.  It  will  enter  largely  into  the  ration  for  dairy  cows 
in  connection  with  other  forage  and  the  various  cereals.  Al- 
though 'it  is  impossible  to  make  an  ideal  milk  ration  by  add- 
ing clover  hay  to  the  corn  and  corn  fodder  upon  which  so 
many  cows  are  now  fed,  yet  every  pound  of  clover  that  is  add- 
ed to  these  foods  improves  the  ration.  The  ideal  balance  for 
milk  should  be  one  pound  of  albuminoids  to  each  five  and 
four-tenths  pounds  of  carbohydrates.  Good  clover  hay  as 
usually  cut  has  a  ratio  of  1:5. 6,  and  is  of  itself  substantially  in 
the  right  proportion,  but  the  corn  is  i  :Q.  3  and  the  corn  stalks 
1:14.7.  If  the  last  two  were  fed  in  equal  weights  the  ratio 
would  be  1:13;  if  the  three  feed  stuffs  were  fed  in  equal 


106  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

weights  the  ratio  would  be  1:9.8,  which,  although  still  far  from 
the  ideal  requirements,  is  much  more  nearly  right  than  the 
corn  and  fodder  without  the  clover.  Substitute  bran  for  half 
the  corn  and  the  ratio  would  be  still  further  narrowed  to  i  :8. 5, 
or  substitute  oil  meal  for  half  the  corn  and  the  ratio  of  the 
mass  would  be  narrowed  to  1:7.5. 

Timothy  hay  has  a  wide  ratio  of  1:12. /,and  every  farmer 
knows  how  the  addition  of  clover  improves  it.  The  reason  is 
that  the  ratio,  that  is,  the  proportion  between  the  albumi- 
noids and  the  carbohydrates,  is  narrowed.  Equal  weights  ot 
timothy  and  clover  hay  cut  as  described  will  ha^e  a  ratio  of 
1:9.15.  If  to  such  mixed  hay  corn  is  added  the  ratio  will  not 
be  much  disturbed.  If  an  equal  weight  of  corn  and  bran  in 
equal  parts  be  added  the  ratio  of  the  whole  ration  will  be  i  :8, 
and  if  the  grains  fed  be  half  corn  and  half  oil  meal  the  ratio- 
of  the  whole  will  be  1 7.  i.  If  the  mixed  hay  be  added  to  an 
equal  weight  of  oats  the  ratio  of  the  mass  will  be  1 7.8,  where- 
as timothy  and  oats  alone  in  equal  parts  would  have  a  ratio 
i  :g.6.  These  examples  are  given  merely  to  illustrate  the  man- 
ner  in  which  clover  hay  may  advantageously  narrow  the  ratio 
of  other  feed  stuffs.  Corn  ensilage  may  in  like  manner  be 
narrowed  with  clover.  Alone  it  has  a  ratio  of  about  i  :i  i,  but 
if  an  equal  weight  of  clover  hay  be  added  the  ratio  of  the 
whole  will  be  narrowed  to  i  :8. 3.  A  careful  study  of  the  table:; 
on  pages  101  and  102  will  suggest  other  combinations  of  clover 
hay  suitable  to  the  live  stock  of  the  farm. 

Where  alfalfa  hay  is  grown  the  hay  can  be  used  even  to 
better  purpose  than  clover,  for  it  is  customary  to  cut  it  at  an 
earlier  stage  of  growth,  when  if  well  cured  its  ratio  is  about 
i  :2. 8.  It  is  the  more  valuable  because  in  the  district  in  which 
alfalfa  is  grown  there  is  a  very  great  supply  of  carbonaceous 
foods  which  require,  for  use  for  the  highest  profit,  to  be  bal- 
anced up  with  a  more  albuminous  food.  Some  horse  breeders 
in  the  Eastern  states  have  become  so  impressed  with  the  value 
of  alfalfa  as  a  producer  of  muscle  that  they  send  yearling  colts 
to  the  alfalfa  districts  of  Kansas  in  order  that  they  may  be 
grown  largely  on  alfalfa  pasture  and  alfalfa  hay.  This  may 
seem  a  mere  conceit,  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  they  may 
have  more  facts  to  sustain  them  than  is  apparent  at  first  sight. 
It  is  in  entire  harmony  with  feeding  principles.  While  many 
farmers  see  at  a  glance  the  value  of  the  various  clovers  in  the 
ration  the  number  will  greatly  increase  as  land  and  its  pro- 
ducts increase  in  value  and  the  science  and  practice  of  com- 
pounding balanced  rations  v/hich  is  yet  in  its  infancy  becomes 
more  completely  understood. 


INSECT  AND  OTHER  ENEMIES, 


CHAPTER  XL 


It  is  a  peculiarity  of  all  cultivated  crops  that  when  grown 
abundantly  over  a  wide  district  of  country,  they  become 
infested  with  many  diseases  and  are  attacked  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  insect  and  other  enemies.  The  more  useful  the  plant, 
the  greater  the  variety  and  number  of  its  foes.  It  may  there- 
fore be  reasonably  expected  that  whenever  the  culture  of 
clover  becomes  established  in  any  state  or  section  and  is  in 
such  high  favor  with  farmers  that  a  large  acreage  is  in  culti- 
vation, insect  enemies  will  appear,  increase  and  multiply. 

Prof.  J.  A.  Lintner,  in  the  Report  of  the  New  York  Agri- 
cultural Society  1881-2,  page  190,  gives  a  list  of  no  less  than 
seventy-one  species  of  insects  in  Europe  which  infest  the 
clover  plant.  In  the  same  volume,  pages  192  and  206,  he 
gives  the  names  of  some  sixty  species  that  have  been  known  to 
attack  clover  in  America,  and  some  eight  or  ten  other  species 
have  since  been  discovered  by  other  entomologists.  A  recent 
bulletin  of  the  Ohio  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  gives 
the  names  of  eighty-two  that  have  been  discovered  up  to  1885. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  clovers  have  as  many  enemies  as 
a  saint.  Many  of  these  species  are  not  peculiar  enemies  of 
clover,  as,  for  instance,  the  grasshoppers  and  various  butter- 
flies, and,  hence,  will  not  be  discussed  here,  while  others  do 
comparatively  little  damage.  We  confine  our  attention  main- 
ly to  those  peculiar  to  the  clover,  which  have  infested  the 
clover  fields  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  and  may  in  all. 

One  of  the  minor  pests  is  the  clover  leaf  midge,  (an  illus- 
tration of  which  is  presented  on  the  following  page) 
which  deposits  its  eggs  in  the  folded  leaf  of  the  white  clover^ 

(107) 


108  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

and  has,  in  some  instances,  been  found  on  the  red,  though  not 
yet,  we  believe,  on  the  alsike.  It  is  described  by  Prof.  Riley 
in  the  Report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  1879,  page 
197.  Where  it  has  begun  its  operations,  the  eggs  will  be 
found  on  the  leaves,  on  the  dividing  line  in  each  leaf,  and  their 
presence  may  be  suspected  when  the  leaves  are  folded  up. 
On  unfolding  these  leaves,  from  one  to  twenty  whitish,  pale 
orange  maggots  may  be  found,  similar  to,  but  smaller,  than 

those  of  the  clover- 
seed  midge,  which  will 
be  described  in  Chapter 
XII.  It  was  first  de- 
scribed by  the  German 
entomologist,  Dr.  Leow. 
The  length  of  this 
midge  is  about  .059  of 
an  inch.  When  ma- 
tured it  forms  a  white, 
delicate  cocoon,  in  the 
THB  CLOVER  LEA*  MIDGE.  folded  leaflet,  inside  of 

which  may  be  found  the  pupa,  pale  orange  in  color.  The 
perfect  fly  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  clover  seed  midge,  the 
main  difference  being  that  the  antennae,  or  feelers,  of  the  leaf 
midge  have  fourteen  instead  of  sixteen  joints.  It  is  not 
likely  that  this  will  ever  become  a  serious  pest,  inasmuch  as 
the  exposed  condition  of  the  eggs  leaves  them  open  to  many 
enemies,  and  renders  them  especially  liable  to  be  infested  by 
parasites.  When  working  on  the  red  clover  it  will  be  found 
m  the  form  of  a  gall  on  the  undermost  leaves. 

A  much  more  serious  pest  is  the  clover  root  borer,  (Hylesi- 
nushifolii),  Mueller.  This  was  first  noticed  in  New  York  in 
1878,  and  described  by  Prof.  Riley  at  some  length  in  the  report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  for  that  year.  As 
the  name  implies,  it  belongs  to  an  entirely  different  'family,  and 
is  closely  related  to  the  common  bark  beetle,  which  is  often 
found  under  the  bark  of  both  evergreen  and  deciduous  trees, 
deciduous  trees  being  those  that  shed  their  leaves  in  the  fall. 
The  illustration  on  the  following  page  will  enable  our 
readers  to  identify  the  beetle  in  three  of  its  stages.  In  the 
illustration  a  represents  the  affected  plant  with  the  maggot 
'feeding  in  the  root,  b  the  maggot  highly  magnified,  c  the 
pupa,  and  d  the  full-grown  beetle.  The  eggs  are  whitish 
and  oval,  the  larvae  white  with  oval  head  and  the  beetle  black 
and  about  .08  of  an  inch  in  length.  The  female  appears  in 
the  spring,  bores  a  hole  in  the  crown  of  the  root,  eating  out  a 
pretty  large  cavity,  in  which  she  deposits  the  eggs.  These 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


109 


are  hatched  in  about  a  week,  and  the  maggots  first  feed  in  the 
cavity  made  by  the  parent  for  their  accommodation.  When 
somewhat  grown,  they  begin  to  burrow  downward,  following 
out  the  different  branches  of  the  root.  The  pupa  is  formed 
in  a  smooth  cavity,  generally  at  the  end  of  one  of  these  burrows, 
and  may  be  found  there  in  the  fall.  This,  of  course,  greatly 
weakens  the  plant,  and  it  is  not  able  to  produce  a  seed  crop ; 
hence,  where  farmers  find  clover  after  the  first  cutting  in  the 
fall  not  producing  seed  heads,  they  may  suspect  the  presence 

of  the  clover  root  borer.  A  very 
slight  investigation  will  discover  the 
presence  of  the  pest.  The  stalks 
pull  up  easily  and  sometimes  push 
before  the  mower.  Thus,  the  borer, 
as  will  "be  seen  from  the  above  de- 
scription of  its  habits,  affects  only 
the  second  year's  crop,  as  the  first 
year's  crop  is  not  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced to  allow  the  female  to  deposit 
her  eggs,  there  being  no  crown  or 
sufficient  root  development  for  the 
support  of  the  young.  The  only 
known  method  of  avoiding  the  rav- 
ages of  this  pest  is  to  plow  up  the 
field  and  plant  it  to  corn,  a  remedy 
not  applicable,  however,  in  fields 
where  clover  is  growing  as  part  of 
the  permanent  pasture.  From  its 
habits  the  clover  root  borer  cannot  be 
distributed  as  rapidly  as  the  clover 
seed  midge.  It  prevails,  however,over 
a  large  part  of  the  country,  having 
been  abundant  as  far  west  as  some  counties  in  northern  Iowa, 
for  some  years.  Fortunately,  the  farmer  does  not  suffer  any 
serious  loss  by  being  compelled  to  plow  up  his  clover  field  at 
the  end  of  the  second  year,  the  main  loss  being  the  deficient 
yield  of  the  affected  plant  and  the  failure  of  a  seed  crop.  In 
many  places  where  it  has  appeared,  this  singular  fact  has  been 
noted,  that  while  they  may  ruin  whole  fields  one  season,  the 
borers  may  be  quite  rare  the  next.  This  would  indicate 
either  that  it  has  some  parasite  enemies,  or  that  they  are 
destroyed  in  great  numbers  while  hibernating  in  the  ground 
in  the  winter,  or  that  the  old  plants  have  been  destroyed 
and  sufficient  young  ones  have  come  forward  from  self- 
seeding  to  maintain  the  stand. 

Another  insect  that  affects  clover  injuriously  is  the  flaves- 


THE  CLOVER  BOOT  SOBER. 


110  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

cent  clover  weevil,  (Sitonesjlavescens)  Allard.  In  the  month 
of  October,  1885,  Mr.  F.  M.  Webster,  then  of  Lafayette, 
Indiana,  special  agent  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  dis- 
covered that  the  foliage  of  white  clover,  and  also  of  the  alsike 
on  the  grounds  of  the  Purdue  University,  at  Lafayette,  Indi- 
ana, were  seriously  injured  by  an  insect  enemy,  and  he  de- 
scribed and  reported  the  insect  to  the  Department,  the  de- 
scription being*  published  in  the  annual  report  of  1886,  pp. 
580-2.  The  injury  was  done  mainly  to  the  leaves  of  the  clo- 
ver, and  consisted  in  cutting-  a  circular  disc  in  the  center  of  the 
leaf,  and  also  circular  spaces  from  the  margins,  in  some  cases 
leaving-  only  the  leaf  stalk  and  the  backbone  of  the  leaf,  or 
the  bases  of  the  mid-veins.  This  he  identified  as  the  flaves- 
cent  clover  weevil,  {Sitones  jlavescens.}  The  insect  had  been 
previously  described  by  Dr.  Lintner,  of  New  York,  and  also 
by  Dr.  Riley,  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture.  It  is  one  of 
the  beetles,  and  has  a  wide  distribution,  being  quite  frequent 
in  the  Atlantic  states,  and  in  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Minnesota. 
The  beetles  are  described  as  rather  timid,  and  drop  to  the 
ground  on  the  slightest  disturbance,  hiding-  among-  the  leaves 
and  rubbish,  and,  therefore,  it  is  difficult  to  discover  them  in 
the  act  of  feeding-  on  the  leaves.  The  peculiar  circular  marks 
which  they  make  are  due  to  the  habit  of  the  insect  when  feed- 
ing-, of  moving-  simply  the  head  and  neck,  the  body  remaining 
stationary',  much  after  the  fashion  of  a  cow  with  her  head  be- 
tween a  barb  wire  fence  and  reaching-  as  far  as  her  tong-ue 
will  enable  her  to  take  in  the  herbage. 

These  beetles  appear  in  the  spring-  of  the  year,  about  the 
time  the  first  tender  leaves  make  their  appearance,  and  carry 
on  their  depredations  throug-hout  the  summer.  The  eggs  are 
deposited  in  July  and  August,  and  the  deposit  continues  until 
cold  weather  begins.  The  larvae  hatch  out  about  two  days 
after  the  eggs  are  laid,  and  pass  the  winter  in  the  larval 
stage,  pupating  or  undergoing  their  final  transformation  in 
the  spring,  and  after  remaining  about  twenty  days  in  this 
stage,  emerge  as  adults,  thus  completing  the  cycle.  This 
pest  was  discovered  in  1891,  as  being  quite  abundant  at  Ames, 
Iowa,  and  a  full  account  of  it  may  be  found  in  Bulletin  14, 
for  August  of  that  year.  While  as  noticed  in  Indiana  and 
further  east,  they  infest  mainly  the  alsike  and  white  clovers, 
they  seem  to  be  partial  to  red  clover  in  Iowa.  It  is  not  prob- 
able that  this  insect  will  do  very  serious  damage,  and  it  is 
likely  common,  its  ravages  being  mistaken  for  those  of  grass- 
hoppers. Prof.  Osborn  describes  it  as  little  less  than  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  in  length,  about  one-tenth  of  an  inch  wide, 
and  with  a  faint  light  brown  stripe  running  the  length  of  the 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


lii 


THE   CLOVER    STEM  BORER. 


head  between  the  eyes,   and  dimly  discernable  on  the  wing 
covers. 

Clover  Stem  Borer,  (Languria  Mozcu  di, )  Fabr.  In  his  re- 
port to  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  1879,  Prof.  J.  Henry 
Comstock,  entomologist  of  the  Department,  describes  a  new 
clover  pest  then  recently  discovered,  called  the  Clover  Stem 
Borer.  The  accompanying  illustration  will  enable  the  reader 
to  identify  the  eggs,  larvae,  pupa,  the  adult  borer  and  also  the 
manner  in  which  the  eggs 
are  laid  in  the  stalk.  It 
seems  to  be  identical  with 
an  insect  affecting  the 
fall  wheat  in  Kansas  and 
perhaps  other  sections, 
and  hence  is  not  peculiar 
to  clover.  The  female 
lays  her  eggs  in  June,  ac- 
cording to  Prof.  Cook, 
piercing  the  stem  with 
her  jaws  and  pushing  her 
eggs  clear  into  the  pith. 
The  larvae  feed  on  the  pith  downward,  forming  a 
burrow  about  six  inches  long.  The  pupa  is  formed 
at  the  bottom  of  this  burrow  and  shortly  after- 
wards the  fully  developed  beetles  begin  to  appear, 
emerging  from  the  hollow  stems  from  August  to 
October.  There  is  but  one  brood  each  year.  The  beetle 
hibernates  and  waits  until  the  plants  are  in  their  full  vigor  in 
June  before  depositing  her  eggs.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that 
the  Western  method  of  cutting  clover  the  last  of  June  or  the 
first  of  July,  and  then  either  pasturing  or  cutting  the  second 
crop  for  seed  will  give  small  chance  for  this  pest  to  increase. 
Recent  discoveries,  however,  have  shown  that  a  stock  of  the 
borers  may  be  kept  up  indefinitely,  from  the  fact  that  it  lives 
on  quite  a  number  of  plants  besides  clover.  It  has  been 
found  in  the  sweet  clover,  in  wild  thistles,  wild  lettuce,  yarrow 
and  in  timothy.  It  has,  however,  several  parasites,  and  there 
is  but  little  danger  of  it  ever  becoming  a  destructive  pest. 

Clover  Leaf  Beetle,  (Phytonomus  pun  tatus).  This,  like 
many  of  our  destructive  insects,  is  stated  by  Prof.  Cook  to 
be  an  imported  species,  common  in  Germany,  prevailing  in 
Canada  since  1853,  appearing  in  New  York  in  1881,  and  later, 
in  1884,  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  It  appeared  in  northeastern 
Ohio  in  1891,  and  recently  near  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  The 
following  illustration  will  give  our  readers  an  idea  of 
the  beetle  at  its  work,  in  which  a  represents  the  egg  en- 


112 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


larged ;  #,  #,  £,  #,  represent  the  different  stages  of  theii 
•growth  feeding ;  £,  the  young  larvae ;  d,  the  head  from 
beneath  ;  e,  the  jaw  enlarged  ;  f,  the  cocoon  reduced  in  size 
and  meshes  of  the  same ;  g  and  ^,  the  pupae  ;  z,  the  beetle, 
also  reduced ;  j\  side  view  of  the  beetle,  and  k,  a  dorsal 
view  of  the  same,  slightly  reduced  from  the  natural  size  ; 
7  and  m,  foot  and  antennae  enlarged.  For  the  illustra- 
tion the  public  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Riley.  From  a  descrip- 


THK  CLOVER  LEAF  BEETLE. 


tion  by  Dr.  Lintner,  State  Entomologist  of  New  York,  we 
condense  as  follows :  It  measures  four-tenths  of  an  inch 
in  length,  is  oval  in  form,  brown  in  color;  the  beak  is 
short,  broad  and  blunt.  The  wing  covers  are  clothed  with 
short,  yellowish  brown  hairs,  the  egg  is  a  long  oval  and 
about  twice  as  long  as  wide,  pale  yellow,  smooth  when  first 
laid,  but  becoming  greenish  yellow  before  hatching.  The 
larvae  hatch  out  in  about  a  week  from  the  time  the  egg  is 
laid.  They  are  pale  in  color,  with  a  dark  head,  which 
subsequently  becomes  greenish.  The  body  is  deeply 
wrinkled,  and  when  it  rests  clings  sidewise  to  the  leaf  in  a 
curved  position.  The  eggs  are  deposited  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  summer  by  beetles  which  appear  in  July  and  August. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  113 

The  larvae  appear  in  September,  change  to  pupae  in  October, 
and  emerge  as  beetles  in  November.  Some  of  them  lay 
their  eggs  from  which  the  larvae  hatch  and  hibernate  while 
quite  small  within  the  old  clover  stems.  Others  hibernate 
as  beetles  and  lay  their  eggs  the  following  spring.  The 
young  larvae  are  seen  as  early  as  April,  feeding-  on  the 
clover,  but  their  ravages  do  not  become  marked  until  May 
or  June.  They  feed  first  on  the  folded  young  leaves,  and 
attach  themselves  to  the  under  side  of  the  leaf,  while  later 
they  fasten  themselves  to  its  edge,  which  they  eat  in  irregu- 
lar patches.  It  is  difficult  to  observe  the  older*  larvae,  as 
they  are  quite  timid  and  drop  to  the  ground  when  approached, 
feeding  mainly  at  night  and  passing  the  day  among  the  roots 
and  old  stalks,  or  any  other  shelter  found  upon  the  ground. 
About  the  first  week  in  July  the  beetle  emerges.  The  sev- 
eral periods  of  the  insect  are  given  by  Dr.  Lintner  as  follows  i 
' '  The  egg  stage,  ten  and  a  half  days ;  first  larval  stage,  nine 
days  ;  fourth  larval  stage  from  the  third  molting  to  the  spin- 
ning of  the  cocoon,  twenty-five  days  ;  larvae  unchanged  in  the 
cocoon,  nine  days  ;  pupa  state,  thirty  days.  The  entire  time 
from  the  egg  to  the  perfect  insect  is  one  hundred  and  one 
days,  or  about  three  and  one-third  months."  This  beetle  is 
very  prolific.  The  female  lays  from  two  hundred  to  three 
hundred  eggs  in  the  clover  stem,  which  it  usually  punctures 
for  that  purpose.  The  larvae,  or  worms,  are  constitutionally 
hungry  and  consume  every  part  of  the  plant  above  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  The  beetles  are  described  by  Prof.  Cook  as 
doing  very  serious  damage  in  June  or  July,  thus  completing 
the  work  of  destruction  begun  by  the  larvae.  Inasmuch  as 
these  beetles  are  waterproof,  they  may  be  expected  to  spread 
very  rapidly  along  streams,  and  once  introduced  are  liable  to* 
become  a  very  serious  pest  unless  they  fall  a  prey  to  their 
parasitic  and  other  enemies.  Paris  green  would  no  dottbt 
destroy  them  as  it  does  other  insects,  but  it  is  not  a  practical 
remedy  under  western  conditions,  nor  with  field  crops.  It  is 
probable  that  no  better  thing  can  be  done  than  to  plow  up  the 
infested  clover  fields  in  May  and  plant  them  to  corn.  It  is 
to  be  sincerely  hoped  that  the  insect  will  not  appear  in  the 
West. 

The  clover  leaf  hopper  (Agallia  sanguine  lento).  Of  the 
numerous  minute  leaf -hoppers  that  affect  different  crops,  this 
is  one  of  the  very  abundant  and  widespread  species.  It 
appears  to  be  quite  distinctively  a  clover  feeder,  for,  while  it 
occurs  on  other  plants  and  doubtless  at  times  feeds  upon  them, 
it  shows  decided  preference  for  this  as  its  staple  food.  The 
life  history  has  been  worked  out  by  Prof.  Osborn  and  is  in 


114 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


brief  as  follows :  The  adult  insect  hibernates  and  may  be 
found  in  sunny  places  in  early  soring,  or,  for  that  matter,  at 
any  warm  spell  during  the  winter.  It  is  about  one-eighth  oi 
an  inch  long,  and  is  shown  in  the  figure  at  c  much  enlarged, 
the  line  at  the  left  being  a  little  longer  than  the  actual 
length  of  the  average  specimens.  It  is  broad  in  proportion 
to  length,  and  is  marked  with  numerous  dark  blotches  and 
stripes.  The  adults  pair  during  April  and  the  females 
deposit-  eggs  in  the  leaves  of  clover  and  probably  also  in 


THB  CLOVER  LBAP-HOPPEB. 

{Agallia  sanguinolenta)^    a  larva,  b  pupa,  c  adult,  rfhead  in  front;  all  enlarged,  sizf 
lines  a  little  too  long.— (After  Osborn). 

the  petiole  and  perhaps  also  near  the  ground  in  the  crown. 
The  first  larvae  appear  during  the  month  of  May,  though  egg 
deposition  lasts  for  some  time  and  larvae  of  this  first  brood 
may  be  appearing  for  some  weeks.  Some  of  them  mature, 
producing  the  adults  by  early  in  July,  and  these  deposit  eggs 
which  produce  a  second  brood  of  larvae,  and  it  is  possible  that 
the  earliest  maturing  of  these  might  produce  a  third  brood, 
but  the  bulk  of  the  insects  are  doubtless  included  within 
two  broods.  Remedial  measures  for  this  pest  are  not  readily 
applied  and  the  only  reccommendation  that  seems  feasible  at 
present  is  to  use  the  flat  "hopper-dozer,"  or  "Tar  Pan,"  which 
has  been  proven  at  the  Iowa  Experiment  Station  to  be  so  effec- 
tive in  killing  the  leaf -hoppers  in  pastures  and  meadows.  It 
will  also  serve  to  diminish  their  numbers  greatly  to  burn  over 
the  old  grass,  along  fences  and  other  places  where  the  insects 
hibernate,  during  late  fall  or  early  spring.  The  "Tar  Pan" 
could  be  best  used  in  summer,  directly  after  the  cutting  of  the 
first  crop  of  clover. 

Clover  hay  worm  (Asopia  costalis}.       Heretofore  we  have 
treated  of  insects  that  feed  on  clover  roots  and  the  clover  stalk, 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


115 


and  it  now  only  remains  to  treat  of  the  clover  hay  worm,  leav- 
ing- those  that  infest  the  seed  to  be  considered  in  "Chapter  XII. 
The  clover  hay  worm,  (Asopia  costalis),  Fabr.,  belongs  to 
the  same  family  as  the  moth  that  infests  bee  hives  and  the  moth 
common  in  meal.  The  illustration  herewith  given  will 
enable  our  readers  to  identify  the  worm.  In  it,  as  described 
by  Prof.  Cook,  1  and  2  represent  the  larvae  suspended  by 
threads  of  their  own  spinning1,  3  represents  the  cocoon,  4  the 

chrysalis,  5  the  moth 
with  wing's  spread,  6  the 
moth  at  rest,  and  7  the 
larvae  concealed  in  a  case 
of  silk  which  it  ha? 
spun.  The  eggs  are 
laid  on  the  clover.  The 
larvae  work  in  a  silken 
case  and  thus  often  ma1 
the  hay  into  a  great 
mass.  They  may  be 
seen  in  summer  working 
on  hay,  but  more  usually 
in  February  or  March, 
when  stacks  and  mows 
may  be  fairly  alive  with 
larvae.  They  often  crawl  into  the  stack  to  protect  them- 
selves from  the  cold.  The  color  of  the  larvae  is  dark  brown, 
the  cocoon  is  white  and  the  chrysalis  yellow,  the  moth  purple 
with  a  silken  luster  ancf  it  has  two  bright  spots  on  the  wings. 
Prof.  Riley  described  the  insect  at  an  earlier  date  in  the  6th 
Missouri  Report.  Prof.  F.  M.  Webster,  of  Wooster,  Ohio, 
special  agent  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  "Insect 
Life,"  (volume  4,  numbers  3  and  4,  November  1891,)  paid^a,  visit 
to  the  farm  of  Prof.  W.  I.  Chamberlain  on  April  27th,  1891, 
for  the  purpose  of  investigating  this  worm  at  work.  The  hay 
was  in  an  open  stack  and  was  damaged  twenty  per  cent.  It 
was  found  that  the  majority  of  the  larvae  could  be  killed  by 
re-stacking  the  hay  and  dusting  it  with  two  pounds  of  pow- 
dered pyrethrum,  mixed  with  ten  pounds  of  flour,  to  each  ton  of 
hay.  A  number  of  larvae  were  taken  from  this  hay  and 
placed  in  breeding  cages.  They  continued  to  feed  on  the 
dry  hay  for  a  considerable  time,  the  pupa  being  first 
observed  on  May  25th,  and  moths  beginning  to  issue  on 
June  12th.  The  eggs  appeared  to  be  laid  on  the  heads 
of  growing  clover  and  about  July  1st  the  young  larvae 
appeared.  It  would  seem  from  this  that  the  eggs  may  be 
deposited  on  the  plants  in  the  field  and  thus  the  larvae 


THE  CLOVER  HAT  \\ORM. 


116  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

be  drawn  to  the  stack  or  mow,  and  also  that  the  egg's 
may  be  deposited  in  the  stacks  early  in  August.  The  only 
remedy  we  can  suggest  for  the  destruction  of  this  pest,  should 
it  appear,  is  to  burn  up  all  the  old  stacks  of  hay  left  over 
from  the  preceding  year,  to  remove  all  old  hay  from 
barns,  and  to  thoroughly  cleanse  all  sheds  and  barns  where 
the  pest  has  become  established. 

The  clovers,  however,  suffer  seriously  from  other  than 
insect  enemies.  They  are  subject  to  a  peculiar  kind  of  rust, 
(Uromyces  trifolii.)  This  rust  is  a  fungus  or  low  form  of 
plant  life,  without  chlorophyll,  or  the  coloring  matter  of 
plants,  and  without  roots,  stems,  or  leaves,  which  derives  its 
nourishment  from  the  clover  plant.  It  is,  therefore,  a  para- 
site and  is  reproduced  by  spores  which  float  in  the  air,  and 
when  placed  under  proper  conditions,  germinate  and  develop 
on  the  leaves  of  the  plant.  This  clover  rust  has  appeared 
but  recently  in  the  West.  It  was  first  reported  on  white 
clover  in  Iowa  by  Prof.  Arthur  in  1884  and  seems  to  be  more 
widely  distributed  than  is  generally  supposed.  Prof.  Under- 
wood reported  it  in  the  vicinity  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y. ,  in  i888. 
Dr.  Roland  Thaxter  reported  it  near  New  Haven,  Conn., 
in  the  annual  report  of  the  Connecticut  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  in  1889,  page  175.  In  Bulletin  No.  15, 
Cornell  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  Prof.  Dudley  re- 
ports it  as  common  about  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and  in  August, 
1890,  it  was  reported  in  the  Monthly  Review  of  the  Iowa 
Weather  and  Crop  Service  as  commofL  at  Ames,  Iowa,  where 
Prof.  Pammel  reports  that  it  has  been  unusually  severe  during 
the  past  summer.  This  rust  usually  appears  on  the  rowen 
or  second  crop,  and  it  would  be  an  interesting  investigation 
to  ascertain  whether  it  affects  clover  when  under  hard  con- 
ditions, such,  for  example,  as  an  exceedingly  wet  and  hot 
year,  or  when  plants  are  weakened  by  previous  drouth  or  by 
insect  enemies.  It  is  difficult  to  suggest  any  remedy  short 
of  plowing  up  the  field,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  it  will  do  any 
serious  damage  where  clover  is  grown  in  short  rotation. 
Where  there  is  much  affected  clover  in  a  permanent  pasture, 
burning  over  the  field  late  in  the  fall  would,  no  doubt,  prove 
advantageous. 

In  this  connection  attention  should  also  be  called  to  the 
violet  root  fungus,  {Rhizoctonia  medicaginis},  which,  in  parts 
of  Europe,  is  a  serious  pest.  The  fungus  covers  the  roots 
with  a  violet  mould.  Plants  affected  with  this  disease  wilt 
suddenly  and  then  die.  The  disease  spreads  in  circular 
areas.  It  also  affects  alfalfa,  in  fact,  has  been  reported  on 
that  host  by  Mr.  Webber,  in  Nebraska.  (Flora  of 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  11* 

Nebraska,  page  76).  Carrots  and  mangolds  are  also  affected 
Some  of  the  clover  sickness  referred  to  by  European  writers 
is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  abundance  of  this  parasite  in  the 
soil.  Everyone  should  be  on  the  lookout  for  this  fungus 
If  found,  it  should  be  exterminated  at  once.  Rotation  witV 
corn  and  oats  for  a  number  of  years  has  been  very  effective 
The  clovers,  however,  are  subject  to  a  very  much  more 
dangerous,  though,  fortunately,  as  yet  an  uncommon  para- 
site, the  clover  dodder,  {Cuscuta  epithymum}.  The  dodders 
belong  to  the  morning  glory  family,  and  are  near  relations 
to  the  common  bind-weed,  the  morning  glor}7,  moon  flowei 
and  sweet  potato.  The  genus  Cuscuta,  or  dodder,  contains 
upward  of  a  hundred  different  species,  forty-four  of  which 
have  been  found  in  America,  and  thirty-nine  of  these  are 
found  in  no  other  part  of  the  world.  They  occur  on  various 
native  plants  such  as  smart  weed,  goldenrod  and  sunflowers. 
The  reader,  passing  through  a  slough  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
that  has  been  allowed  to  grow  up  to  weeds,  common  to  such 
locations,  may  have  noticed  a  vine  of  reddish  or  yellow  color, 
closely  entwined  around  some  weeds  and  which,  on  examina- 
tion, has  no  connection  with  the  ground.  This  is  one  of 
the  dodders.  Dodder  grows  from  seed  and  if  it  finds  no 
suitable  plant  upon  which  to  take  hold,  dies:  t  If,  however, 
it  reaches  a  stalk  of  clover  or  alfalfa,  the  clover  dodder 
pierces  the  bark  with  small  and  short  rootlets  which  are 
called  suckers  or  haustoria,  and  then  lets  go  of  the  ground 
and  lives  from  the  plant,  like  a  worthless  son-in-law,  who  finds 
it  easier  to  live  off  his  wife's  parents  than  to  make  a  living 
for  himself. 

The  dodders  contain  little,  if  any,  green  coloring  matter 
in  the  minute  scales  on  the  stems,  which  are  their  substitute 
for  leaves,  or  in  the  stems  themselves,  and,  hence,  cannot 
assimilate,  that  is,  make  starch  out  of  raw  material  as  the 
ordinary  green  leaves  do,  but  must  derive  their  nourishment 
entirely  from  the  plant  upon  which  they  live*  They  are, 
therefore,  essentially  parasitic.  The  stems  of  the  dodder 
are  small  and  fleshy,  orange  or  reddish  in  color,  and  are 
twisted  around  the  stalk  of  the  host,  or  plant  on  which  they 
feed.  At  the  base  of  the  flower  and  at  the  joints  of  the 
stems  may  be  found  minute  scales  which  are  rudimentary 
leaves  ;  but  the  plant  in  its  present  stage  of  development  has 
no  need  of  green  leaves,  as  it  finds  food  already  prepared  in 
the  host  plant.  The  reader  will  find,  on  the  following  page, 
an  illustration  of  this  detestable  parasite,  by  referring  to 
which  he  can  follow  the  description  herewith  given  the  more 
readily.  The  flowers  appear  in  clusters  around  the  stem, 


118 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


THE  CLOVER    DODDER.     (Cnsaita  Epithymum.) 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  11? 

soon  forming-  a  capsule,  which  contains  four  seeds.  The 
capsule  does  not  split  into  lobes,  but  opens  by  a  trans- 
verse circular  line.  Each  seed  contains  a  thread-shaped 
embryo,  which  is  spirally  coiled  itr  the  albumen.  The 
albumen  is  the  nourishing-  material  stored  up  in  the  seed  out- 
side of  the  embryo  or  g-erm.  This  embryo  is  dependent  for 
its  development  upon  the  albumen  stored  up  in  the  seed. 
The  number  of  flowers  in  the  cluster  rang-e  from  ten  to- 
twenty,  and  the  seeds  are  of  a  pale  gray  color,  difficult  to 
detect  with  the  naked  eye,  and,  hence,  the  rapid  spread  of 
the  parasite.  As  an  example  of  the  difficulty  in  detecting 
these  seeds,  we  notice  the  report  of  the  Delaware  Experiment 
Station  on  a  sample  of  alfalfa  sent  for  examination,  as  fol- 
lows : 

The  purchaser  remarked  that  it  was  one  of  the  purest  samples  of 
seed  he  had  ever  seen,  and  an  examination  proved  this  fact,  the  propor- 
tion of  impurities  being  only  four-tenths  of  one  per  cent,  mainly  dirty; 
but  a  close  examination  revealed  the  presence  of  Cuscuta,  or  dodder  seed, 
at  the  rate  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty  to  the  pound.  This  seed,  when 
sown  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  pounds  to  the  acrp,  which  is  about  one-half 
that  generally  sown  in  Germany,  would  furnish  nearly  eleven  thousand 
Cuscuta  seed  to  the  acre,  or  enough  to  give  one  seed  every  two  feet,  in 
drills  two  feet  apart.  The  sowing  of  this  much  Cuscuta  seed  upon 
an  acre  of  land,  would,  at  the  least,  be  a  dangerous  procedure,  and 
might  result  in  a  total  destruction  of  a  crop  in  the  course  of  two  or  three 
years.  Every  precaution  should  be  taken  against  the  introduction  of 
this  parasite  into  the  state.  In  Germany  its  presence  has  proved  a 
national  calamity,  and  well  nigh  forced  German  farmers  to  abandon  the 
growth  of  clover.  The  flax  dodder,  according  to  Ledoux,  broke  up  the 
culture  of  flax  in  North  Carolina  and  paved  the  way  to  cotton  culture. 
In  Germany  the  fight  against  the  Cuscuta  has  been  vigorous,  but  the 
enforcement  of  stringent  laws  and  the  sharp  eye  of  the  German  govern- 
ment over  the  quality  of  clover  and  alfalfa  seed  has  done  much  to  reduce 
this  evil. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  what  untold  damag-e 
might  be  done  to  the  clover  interests  of  the  West  by  the 
introduction  of  this  seed.  When  the  seed  falls  to  the 
ground  it  usually  remains  dormant  until  the  following- 
spring',  when  the  embryo  begins  growth  by  sending  one  end 
into  the  soil,  and  with  the  other  sends  up  a  stem,  turning 
from  right  to  left,  or  contrary  to  the  sun's  apparent  motion. 
If  it  is  in  reach  of  a  clover  plant  it  seizes  it  by  means  of  it? 
sucker-like  points,  which  it  at  once  throws  o'iit  and  then  goes 
on  fastening  itself  to  the  foster  plant  and  others  in  the 
vicinity.  It  then  lets  go  its  hold  on  the  ground,  Dodder 
is  an  annual  and  therefore  can  be  destroyed  before  it  has 
ripened  seed,  and  should  be  in  every  case  where  it  is  observed. 
The  best  method  we  know  of  to  get  rid  of  it  is  to  cut  tbe 
infected  portion  close  to  the  ground  and  then  burn  it.  The 


120  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

mowing,  however,  should  be  as  close  as  possible,  inasmuch  as 
the  dodder  flowers  quite  low.  Where  seed  is  suspected  it 
should  be  sifted  carefully  through  a  seive,  the  seed  being  but 
half  the  size  of  clover. 

Our  attention  was  first  called  to  this  parasite  by  the 
receipt  of  a  sample  from  Mr.  J.  N.  Downing,  of  Hall  Town. 
Missouri,  with  the  statement  that  it  prevailed  largely  in  his 
district  and  was  introduced  in  seed  shipped  in  during  the 
previous  spring.  It  has  been  reported  elsewhere  in  Missouri 
and  Canada.  The  sample  was  submitted  to  Prof.  Pammel, 
of  Ames,  Iowa,  and  also  to  Prof.  McBride,  of  the  Iowa  State 
University,  from  whose  replies,  published  in  the  Home- 
stead of  October  18,  1889,  and  from  Bulletin  No.  8,  of  the 
Colorado  Experiment  Station,  the  above  description  has  been 
taken.  Subsequently  we  received  a  package  of  dodder  on 
clover  from  the  southern  part  of  Iowa,  which,  however,  on 
examination  by  Prof.  Bessey,  of  the  Nebraska  Experiment 
Station,  was  pronounced  to  be  a  native  dodder,  different  from 
the  Cuscuta  epithymum,  and  which  had  adopted  the  bad 
habit  of  living  on  clover  instead  of  its  natural  host.  Bul- 
letin No.  8,  of  the  Colorado  Experiment  Station,  above 
mentioned,  reports  three  species  of  parasite  on  alfalfa  in 
that  vicinity.  These  are  the  Cuscuta  epilinum,  or  the  flax 
•dodder,  Cuscuta  Gronovii,  a  species  abundant  in  wet,  shady 
places  from  Canada  to  the  Rocky  ^Mountains,  through  Min- 
nesota, Iowa  and  Texas,  and  also  parasitic  on  the  great 
rag  weed  (Ambrosia  trifida,)  and  other  members  of  the  sun- 
flower family.  This  is  the  most  common  of  all  the  species 
and  is  frequently  found  in  Iowa,  especially  about  Ames  and 
Des  Moines.  Fortunately  for  the  West,  although  the 
various  dodders  are  generally  distributed,  they  do  not  usually 
attack  cultivated  plants.  We  have  mentioned  most  of  the 
spots  certainly  known  to  be  infested  with  clover  dodder. 
We  have  dealt  with  the  subject  thus  fully,  in  order  to  warn 
our  readers  of  the  danger  of  trifling  with  it  wherever  it 
appears,  as  nothing  but  the  most  prompt  and  vigorous 
measures  will  be  efficient  in  dealing  with  this  parasite. 


. 


CLOVER  SEED  AND  ITS  INSECT  ENEMIES. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


While  some  clovers  are  grown  for  pasture  and  fertility, 
others  for  pasture,  seed  and  fertility,  others  for  seed  and  fer- 
tility, and  still  others  for  hay,  seed  and  fertility,  it  is  impor- 
tant in. every  case  that  the  plant  should  seed  abundantly. 
Even  if  the  farmer  never  takes  a  seed  crop,  it  is  important 
to  him  that  the  plants  should  bear  more  or  less  seed  every 
year.  Many  clovers  being  annuals,  others  biennials  and  still 
others  short  perennials,  it  is  important  that  the  stand  should 
be  mantained  by  self  seeding ;  everything,  therefore,  that 
bears  upon  the  seed  crop  is  of  interest  to  every  clover  grower. 

A  full  crop  of  clover  seed  of  any  of  the  varieties  is  the 
result  of  the  harmonious  *  co-operation  of  man,  nature  and 
insects.  Nature  must  provide  the  soil  and  a  fitting  season, 
man  must  do  his  part  in  preparing  the  soil,  sowing  the  seed, 
and,  so  to  speak,  superintending  the  work,  while  the  insects 
must  perform  the  indispensable  work  of  cross  fertilizing  the 
seed,  a  work  which  they  can  depute  to  neither  man  nor 
nature.  In  order,  therefore,  that  the  farmer  may  act  intelli- 
gently and  co-operate  with  nature  and  his  insect  friends,  it  is 
important  that  he  should  know  something  of  the  process  of 
insect  fertilization  of  the  clover  plant.  4» 

To  give  the  reader  full  and  accurate  information  on  this 
point,  we  have  requested  Prof.  L.  H.  Pammel,  of  the  Iowa 
Agricultural  College,  at  Ames,  Iowa,  to  explain  in  detail  the 
method  by  which  red  and  mammoth  clover  are  pollinated,  and 
the  part  which  various  insects  play  in  this  important  work. 
This  he  has  kindly  done  in  the  following : 

In  order  to  understand  the  method  of  pollination,  we  must  have  a 

(121) 


122  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

clear  understanding  of  the  parts  of  the  flower.  The  clover  flower  con 
sists  of  two  kinds  of  organs,  known  as  the  essential  and  non-essential. 
The  F ssential  are  absolutely  necessary  in  the  production  of  seed.  The 
non-essential,  which  surround  the  former,  consist  of  two  sets  of  modified 
leaves,  the  outer  known  as  the  calyx.  This  is  green  and  made  up  of  ar 
enlarged  lower  portion  which  bears  five  bristle-shaped  lobes.  Next  tc 
the  calyx  is  the  colored  part  of  the  flower,  known  as  the  corolla,  or,  in 
common  language,  the  blossom.  It  is  made  up  of  five  parts  known  as 
petals.  Flowers,  like  clover,  in  which  the  petals  are  unlike  in  size,  are 
known  as  irregular,  and  many  irregular  flowers  need  insects  to  carry 
the  pollen.  In  some  flowers  both  calyx  and  corolla  are  absent,  but  in  no 
case  can  seed  b«  produced  where  the  stamens  and  pistil,  the  essential 
parts  of  the  flower,  are  absent  The  stamens  occur  next  to  the  corolla, 
while  the  pistil  is  found  in  the  center.  The  corolla  of  the  clover  floret* 
consists  of  the  following  parts:  An  upper,  larger  petal  known  as  the 
bearer,  two  lateral  petals  known  as  the  wings,  and  two  lower  petals 
resembling  the  keel  of  a  boat,  which  are  united  and  are  commonly 
known  as  the  "keel."  The  keel  contains  the  ten  stamens,  each  seamen 
consisting  of  an  anther,  at  the  end  of  which  *s  attached  a  thread-like 
affair  known  as  the  filament.  But  in  the  case  of  clover  the  filaments 
are  united  to  form  a  tube,  the  anthers  containing  the  pollen.  The  pistil 
is  also  found  in  the  keel.  The  expanded  portion  contains  the  unde- 
veloped seeds.  The  narrow  neck  is  known  as  a  style,  the  tip  is  the 
stigma.  The  color  of  the  clover  flower  is  especially  attractive  to  insects. 
The  honey  which  the  insect  seeks  is  contained  in  the  tube  formed  by  the 
union  of  the  fine,  thread-like  bodies  or  filaments. 

When  an  insect  like  the  bumbie-bee  lights  on  the  flower,  it  uses  the 
keel  and  wings  (the  latter  being  attached  to  the  tube  containing  the 
nectar)  as  a  resting  place,  its  weight  pressing  the  keel  down  and  causing 
the  pistil  and  stamens,  the  latter  being  somewhat  shorter  than  the  pistil. 
to  come  in  contact  with  the  underside  of  the  bee's  head.  The  insect  is 
certain  to  leave  some  of  the  pollen  from  another  flower  on  the  stigma. 
The  honey  is  obtained  by  the  insect  thrusting  its  proboscis  into  the 
united  filaments  of  the  stamens,  which  has  a  slit  on  the  upper  side  to 
give  place  for  a  free  tenth  stamen.  Self-pollination,  or  pollination  of 
the  flower  from  its  own  stamens,  is  not  excluded,  as  the  insect  leaves  th* 
flowers.  Does  self-fertilization  occur?  Charles  Darwin  (Cross  and 
Self-Fertilization,  page  361)  says:  "One  hundred  flower  heads  on 
plants  protected  by  a  net  did  not  produce  a  single  seed,  whilst  one  hun- 
dred heads  on  plants  growing  outside,  which  were  visited  by  bees, 
yielded  sixty-eight  grains  weight  in  seed,"  making  a  total  of  2720  seeds 
for  the  one  hundred  heads.  Mr.  Sirrine  (Bulletin  13,  Iowa  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station,  page  90)  found  that  when  pollea  of  the  same  flower 
was  used,  no  seed  set.  Prof.  Cook  (Bulletin  26,  Division  of  Entomology 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  page  87)  found  that  in  ten 
heads  of  white  clover  from  which  insects  were  excluded,  no  seed  set. 
In  a  similar  pot  of  ten  heads  not  protected  from  insects  by  gauze,  seeds 
set.  In  ten  heads  of  red  clover  covered,  no  seeds  set ;  in  a  similar  pot 
not  covered,  seed  were  produced.  Prof.  Beal,  in  Grasses  of  North 
America,  pages  325-328,  inclusive,  also  shows  the  inability  of  clover  to 
self-fertilize.  It  is  well  known  that  before  the  introduction  of  the 
bumble-bee  into  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  clover  did  not  set  seed,  but 
since  the  British  Government  introduced  the  bumble-bee  in  18:4,  clover 
seeds  are  produced.  They  have  since  multiplied  with  remarkable 

*  The  heads  of  red  and  mammoth  clover  are  made  up  of  from  twenty  to  sixty  flower*. 
n  florets,  each  separate  in  their  structure  and  together  forming  what  is  ordinarily 
*nown  as  the  clover  blossom. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  125 

rapidity.  According  to  Thompson  (Insect  Life,  volume  4,  page  157) 
they  have  so  greatly  increased  that  he  asks  whether  they  may  not 
become  a  serious  pest  to  the  apiarist,  as  they  work  on  all  sorts  of  cu'ti- 
vated  flowers.  4 

In  order  to  reach  the  honey  an  insect  must  have  a  tongue  from  .3543 
to  .3937  inches  (9  to  10  millimeters)  long.  The  honey  lies  from  .2755  to 
.3937  inches  (7  to  9  millimeters)  deep.  Any  insect  sufficiently  heavy  to- 
press  down  the  keel  can  pollinate  the  flower.  Bumble-bees  are,  of 
course,  the  common  pollinators.  Prof.  Osborn  informs  me  that  he  has 
observed  two  common  species  (Bornbus  Pennsylvanicus  and  B.  fervidus). 
My  friend,  Mr.  Robertao* ,  records  several  m^re.  The  honey  bee  can,, 
no  doubt,  pollinate  red  clover,  as  they  often  collect  pollen.  I  have 
taken  an  interest  in  bees  for  many  years,  and  have  given  some  attention* 
to  red  clover  and  honey  bees.  The  following  paragraph  from  a  paper 
published  in  1888  may  be  of  interest : 

"  In  the  summer  of  1883,  in  the  vicinity  of  La  Crosse,  Wisconsin.  I 
noticed  large  numbers  of  honey  bees  on  the  flowers  of  red  clover.  In 
many  cases  they  were  actively  collecting  pollen,  but  in  some  cases  honey r 
through  perforations  in  the  corolla  made  by  some  other  insects.  Her- 
man Mueller  says  the  honey  bee  'usually  visits  the  red  clover  only  for  its- 
honey,  which  its  proboscis  is  not  able  to  reach  in  the  legitimate  manner 
— yet  I  have  now  and  thon  seen  hundreds  of  honey  bees  on  a  patch  of 
red  clover,  all  busy  collecting  pollen.'  Here  at  Ames  I, have  seen  rect 
clover  visited  by  several  butterflies,  especially  the  large  red  but'erfly 
(Danais  archippus) ,  cabbage  butterfly  (Pieris  rapae),  the  yellow  butterfly 
(Coleus  philodice) ,  also  C.  eurytheme,  and  a  fly  (Bombylius).  Red  clover  is- 
adapted  especially  to  bees,  but  Dr.  Hermann  Mueller  of  Germany,  and 
Mr.  Robertson,  of  Carlinville,  Illinois,  record  a  larg«  number  of  butterfly 
visitois.  Thirteen  out  of  twenty  visitors  belonging  to  the  butterfly 
family  were  observed  in  Illinois.  There  is  no  question  that  they  doocca1 
sionally  pollinate  red  clover  and  effect  cross  fertilization.  Mr.  Robert- 
son writes:  'Bumble-bees  depress  the  keel  so  that  their  heads  and 
proboscides  are  well  dusted  with  pollen,  but  butterflies  can  insert  their 
thin  tongue*  without  depressing  the  keel,  and  even  if  they  get  a  little 
pollen  on  their  thin  proboscides,  it  is  apt  to  be  wiped  off  by  the  closely" 
approximated  tin  of  the  petals,  which  close  the  mouth  of  the  flower." 

Th.  Pergande  expresses  the  belief  that  different  species  of  thrips,, 
which  are  found  in  many  kinds  of  flowers,  may  effect  cr^ss  pollination 
(Psyche,  volume  3,  number  100,  page  381).  Prof.  Osborn  informs  m& 
that  two  kinds  of  thrips  are  common  in  clover  blossoms,  Thrips  tritici  and 
Phloethrips-nigra,  but  these  certainly  cannot  generally  effect  cross  fer- 
tilization. 

Can  the  honey  Lee  effect  cross  fertilization  in  mammoth  clover 
(Trifolium  medium)  ?  It  probably  can  do  so  as  it  does  in  the  common 
red.  I  have  not  studied  the  flowers  of  mammoth  clover  carefully,  but  so 
far  as  I  can  see,  the  flowers  of  the  forms  in  the  Colleare  collection  are 
about  the  same  size  as  red  clover.  One  form  has  much  smaller  heads  a^d 
the  flowers  are  also  somewhat  smaller,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
mammoth  clover  is  pollinated  principally  by  bumble-bees. 

The  work  of  honey  bees  in  fertilizing  white  and  alsike  clover  is  welfc 
known  ;  in  fact,  they  can  easily  accomplish  this.  One  other  thought 
suggests  itself  to  me  in  this  connection.  I  believe  it  is  generally  sup- 
posed that  the  second  crop  of  clover  produces  more  seeds  than  the  first. 
This  I  t"  ..ik  is  duo  to  insects,  there  being  a  much  larger  crop  of  bumble- 
bees at  the  time  of  the  second  bloom  than  at  the  first. 

Our  readers,  even  those  who  have  the  least  familiarity 
with  scientific  terms,  will,  with  the  foregoiiig1  explanation,  be 


124 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


able  to  understand  fully  the  structure  of  the  blossom?  of  red 
clover,  and  the  method  of  pollination  with  the  further  aid  of 
the  illustration  herewith  presented.  Figure  1  in  the  illus- 
tration represents  the  floret,  or  one  of  the  minute  flowers  oi 
which  the  clover  head  is  made  up,  separated  from  the  head, 
and  viewed  from  below.  Figure  2  represents  the  same  flower 
with  the  larger  petal  stripped  off  and  viewed  from  above. 

The  calyx  of  which 
Prof.  Painmel  speaks 
is  marked  a  in  fig- 
ures No.  1  and  2  in 
the  illustration.  Im- 
mediately above  it  is 
the  corolla,  or  what 
is  usually  called  the 
blossom,  marked  b, 
made  up  of  five  parts 
known  as  pet als. 
The  bearer  or  vexil- 
lum  is  the  upper, 
larger  petal,  marked 
c  in  figure  1,  while  c 
represents  the  lower 
border  of  a  wing  or 
small  petal  bent  out- 
wards,  f  its  outer  surface  and  g  a  pouch  swelling  at  its  base. 
The  lower  petals  form  what  is  described  by  Prof.  Pammel  as 
the  keel  or  carina,  and  in  figures  1,  2  and  3  are  marked  A. 
Figure  5  represents  the  right  half  of  the  carina  or  keel,  from 
without,  while  figure  4  represents  the  right  wing  or  side  petal 
from  within,  the  claws  in  both  being  broken  off  short.  Fig- 
ure 6  represents  the  pistil,  /,  and  stamens,  m,  without  which 
no  flower  can  exist,  and,  hence,  called  the  essential  organs. 
They  are  found  emerged  from  the  depressed  keel.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  gravitation  of  itself  would  cause  the  pollen 
from  the  stamens  to  fall  away  from  instead  of  towards  £he 
pistil,  or  part  to  be  fertilized.  This  explains  why  insect 
fertilization  is  necesssary.  Let  us  now  see  how  a  bee 
fertilizes  clover.  It  clings  with  its  fore  legs  to  the 
wings,  or  lateral  petals,  resting  its  middle  and  hind  legs 
on  the  lower  part  of  the  flower,  the  keel  and  wings  are 
drawn  down  to  the  stamens  and  the  anthers  are  thrust  up 
against  the  underside  of  the  bee's  head  as  described  by  Prof. 
Pammel  above.  In  going  to  another  flower  it  carries  the 
pollen  with  it  and  places  it  on  the  vital  parts  of  the  second 
plant,  thus  producing  cross-fertilization. 


THE  BED  CLOVER  BLOSSOM. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  125 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  everything  which  favors  the 
increase  of  bumble-bees  is  of  advantage  to  the  clover  grower,, 
and  it  need  not  be  said  that  their  nests  should  be  protected 
instead  of  ruthlessly  destroyed.  It  will  also  be  seen,  in  view 
of  what  has  been  said  as  to  the  ability  of  the  honey  bee  te 
fertilize  red  and  mammoth  clovers  while  gathering  pollen  if 
not  honey,  that  it  will  inure  to  the  advantage  of  every  farmer 
to  keep  a  few  hives  of  bees,  always  selecting  the  Italians,  a? 
larger  and  the  more  industrious.  In  fact,  while  we  have 
seen  the  Italians  and  their  crosses  working  on  mammoth 
clover  year  after  year,  we  have  very  rarely  seen  the  native  or 
black  bee  engaged  in  this  useful  work.  It  would  be  well 
worth  all  the  cost  involved,  if  the  Department  of  Agriculture 
were  to  import  some  of  the  giant  Asiatic  bees  for  the  purpose 
of  securing,  by  means  of  a  cross  on  our  native  bees,  a  variety 
with  sufficient  weight  of  body  and  length  of  tongue  to  enable 
it  to  perform  the  office  of  the  bumble-bee  in  fertilizing  the 
red  and  mammoth  clovers.  If  the  produce  of  these  could  be 
again  crossed  with  the  stingless  bee  of  South  America,  the 
result  would  be  what  might  well  be  called  the  ''granger's 
bee,"  or  the  "clover  grower's  delight." 

VAs  stated  in  Chapter  III,  the  mammoth  clover  is  too  late 
in  maturing  to  furnish  both  a  hay  and  a  seed  crop.  The 
seed,  must,  therefore,  be  taken  from  the  first  crop,  as  it  is. 
usually  termed.  It  is  desirable,  however,  to  use  some  method 
of  getting  rid  of  the  lower  twelve  inches  of  the  stalk  on 
account  of  the  great  bulk  of  the  crop.  Where  it  is  possible,, 
this  should  be  pastured  off.  The  stock  may  be  allowed  free 
range  of  the  field  up  to  June  10th,  in  the  latitude  of  central 
Iowa,  in  ordinary  seasons.  It  is  better  to  let  the  crop  be  well 
started  and  then  put  on  enough  stock  to  eat  it  down  closety. 
This  will  not  only  reduce  the  amount  of  haulm  to  be  handled, 
but  also  thicken  up  the  stand  by  favoring  branching.  Some 
farmers  practice  mowing  about  the  10th  of  June.  This, 
however,  requires  to  be  done  with  a  good  deal  of  sound  judg- 
ment, as  sometimes  the  growth  is  so  rank  by  this  time  that 
there  is  danger,  if  rain  should  follow  immediately,  of  the  cut 
clover  smothering  out  the  plant,  or  at  least  allowing  the 
weeds  to  get  the  advantage  of  the  clover. 

Clover  should  be  cut  for  seed  with  a  reaper  of  some  kind,, 
when  ripe,  that  is,  when  all  the  heads  are  turned  brown  or 
black.  The  most  convenient  implement  is  the  old-fashioned 
self-raker.  When  this  is  not  available  some  farmers  use  the 
ordinary  binder,  removing  the  apparatus  for  binding  the 
sheaf  and  substituting  the  flax  attachment.  The  cost  for  the 
lax  attachment  is  about  five  dollars.  This  is  said  to  throw 


126  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

ihe  gavels  with  the  clover  heads  up  and  therefore  in  the  besl 
-:hape  for  drying*.  Others  remove  the  binding-  apparatus, 
leaving-  the  deck  board  and  dropper,  and  bolting-  on  the  lattei 
a  three-inch  board  of  the  same  thickness,  extending-  eig-hteen 
inches  to  the  rear.  They  then  bolt  a  piece  of  iron  half  an 
inch  wide,  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick  and  eig-hteen  inches 
3ong,  on  the  rear  end  of  this  dropper  and  at  right  angles  to  it, 
bending-  in  a  semi-circle  upward  to  the  driver's  seat  and  to 
the  end  of  which  they  attach  a  small  rope  or  cord  bringing-  it 
up  through  a  small  pulley  fastened  on  the  top  of  the  machine 
and  above  elevating-  rollers  and  extending-  to  a  treadle  on  the 
foot  board  in  front  of  the  driver's  seat.  Wood  pieces  are  put 
in  in  lieu  of  the  iron  parts  that  have  been  removed  with  the 
oinding  apparatus.  In  this  way  the  clover  can  be  cut  and 
lumped  in  such  gavels  as  seems  best.  Where  the  stand  is 
thin  it  can  be  cut  with  the  ordinary  mower  and  raked  in  small 
windrows,  taking-  care  to  rake  it  only  when  slightly  damp, 
especially  after  it  has  had  two  or  three  days  of  hot  sun. 

The  threshing-  should  in  all  cases  be  done  with  a  huller 
where  one  can  be  obtained.  The  hulling  attachments,  while 
3ften  the  only  practicable  means  of  getting  the  seed,  leave 
much  of  it  in  the  straw  and  chaff,  and  when  these  are  used  it 
will  pay  to  thresh  the  chaff  the  second  time.  Whenever  the 
growing  of  clover  seed  has  been  established,  threshers  will 
find  it  profitable  to  procure  hullers,  and  in  good  seasons  will 
lo  a  very  profitable  business. 

The  seed  crop  of  the  common  red  clover  comes  from  the 
-second  growth.  It  is  not  true  that  the  first  crop  does  not 
seed.  The  only  reason  that  the  seed  does  not  materialize  is 
the  lack,  in  most  seasons,  of  insect  fertilization,  due  to  the 
time  of  cutting.  To  insure  a  good  crop  of  seed  the  first  crop 
should  be  removed  not  later  than  the  first  week  of  July, 
although  when  the  autumn  is  peculiarly  favorable  a  crop  of 
seed  can  be  grown  on  cuttings  as  late  as  the  middle  of  that 
month.  .The  method  of  handling  is  the  same  as  that  men- 
tioned above  in  the  case  of  mammoth  clover.  With  both  it 
Is  a  mistake  to  allow  the  clover,  after  being  cut,  to  lie  in  the 
gavel  longer  than  is  necessary  for  easy  threshing.  If  a 
huller  cannot  be  secured  it  should  be  stacked  and  well  covered 
and  allowed  to  remain  until  the  cold  winter  weather. 

The  seed  crop  of  the  alfalfa  is  taken  from  one  of  the  last 
-cuttings  and  the  white  and  the  alsike  from  the  first.  No 
special  directions  need  be  given  as  to  the  threshing  of  either 
of  these,  as  they  all  thresh  readily.  Great  care,  however, 
should  be  exercised  in  handling  them  after  cutting,  as  the 
seed  in  all  shells  out  quite  readily. 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


127 


If  insects  are  essential  to  the  pollination  and  fertilization 
of  clover  seed,  they  also  play  an  important  part  in  its  destruc- 
tion, and  one  of  £he  most 
difficult  problems  in  grow- 
ing- clover  seed  is  to  escape 
the  ravages  of  insects  that 
prey  upon  the  seed.  We, 
therefore,  conclude  this 
chapter  with  a  description 
of  the  habits  and  life  his- 
tory of  two  of  the  most 
dangerous  clover  seed 
pests,  having-  described  in 
the  previous  chapters  the 
insects  that  prey  upon  the 
leaf,  the  root  and  the  hay- 
after  it  has  been  cured. 
The  most  dang-erous, 
perhaps,  of  these  is  the 
clover-seed  midge,  illustra- 
tions of  which  will  be 
found  on  this  page.  In 
explanation  of  these  illus- 
trations, after  Riley,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  more 


THE    CLOVER-SEED   MIDGE    (HALE). 

readily  indent  i  f  yi  n  g- 
the  midge,  should  it 
appear  in  any  field,  we 
call  the  attention  of  our 
readers  more  particu- 
larly to  figures  1  and  2 
herewith  given.  Fig- 
ure  1  represents  an 
enlarged  back  view  of 
the  male,  with  scales 
stripped  off  in  order  to 
show  the  structure 

more  clearly  ;  b  repre-  TH1!  «*™-- >  M™B 

sents  the  eye,  the  palpi  and  the  basal  joints  of  the  antennae 
highly  magnified  ;  c  represents  the  male  organ  highly  magni- 
fied ;  d  represents  the  highly  magnified  antenna!  joints ; 


128  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

£  represents  a  tarsal  claw,  andy*  forms  of  scales.  Figure  2 
shows  an  enlarged  view  of  the  female,  with  ovipositor  by 
which  it  deposits  its  eggs,  extended  ;  b  represents  the 
head  more  enlarged  ;  <:,  the  tip  of  the  ovipositor  highly  mag- 
fied,  and  d  a  great  enlargement  of  the  antennal  joints.  In 
figure  3  a  represents  the  maggot  or  larva  en- 
larged and  from  the  under  side,  while  b  repre- 
sents the  head  drawn  out  and  more  highly  magni- 
fied. With  this  explanation  the  reader  will  be 
able  to  determine  for  himself  the  presence  of  this 
pest. 

There  are  two  distinct  insects  that  pass  under 
the  common  name  of  clover  midge.  The  oner 
the  clover-seed  midge,  {Cecidomyia  JLe&"umiiiicolar 
Lint.),  the  other  the  clover-leaf  midge,  {Cccidomyia 
trifolii,  Leow),  which  lives  in  the  folded  leaves  of 
white  clover  and  sometimes  of  the  red.  The 
first,  which  is  now  under  discussion,  affects  only 
the  seed,  and  seems  first  to  have  been  observed  in 
America  by  Prof .  J.  A.  Lintner,  in  1877.  The 
larva  was  described  briefly  in  1878  in  a  report  on 
B  LARVA.  some  of  the  injurious  insects  of  the  year,  to  the 
New  York  State  Agricultural  Society.  Prof.  Riley,  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  observed  it  in  1878  and  described  it 
in  the  annual  report  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for 
that  year.  •  It  was  observed  by  Prof.  Forbes  in  Illinois  in 
1879,  and  since  that  time  has  extended  over  almost  the  entire 
clover  growing  region  of  the  United  States,  with  the  excep- 
tion, perhaps,  of  southern  and  western  Iowa  and  the  region 
beyond  the  Missouri.  The  eggs  of  the  midge  are  so  small 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  see  them  without  very  good 
eyes,  their  average  length  being  .01  of  an  inch.  They  are 
described  by  Prof.  Rilev  as  being  ulong,  oval  in  shape,  their 
length  three  times  their  breadth  and  one  end  slightly  larger 
than  the  other.  Their  general  color  is  pale  yellow  and  an 
orange  streak  is  more  or  less  apparent  according  to  the  age 
of  the  embryo."  The  female  simply  pushes  the  eggs  down 
between  ;he  hairs  which  surround  the  seed  capsule  of  the 
floret  or  minute  flowers  of  which  the  clover  head  is  composed, 
isrhich  stage  of  development  occurs  in  central  Iowa  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  May.  In  other  words,  the  egg  is  deposited  before 
the  bloom  appears,  but  after  the  head  is  formed.  By  the 
time  the  larvae  are  hatched,  the  mouth  of  the  floret  is  open, 
and  the  maggots  or  larvae  work  their  way  throgh  the  mouth 
of  the  flower  down  to  the  seed. 

The  larvae  or  maggots  hatched  from  the  egg  seew.  to 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  129 

vary  much  in  color,  some  being-  bright  orange  red,  others 
'white  and  occasional!}'  with  a  tinge  of  pink.  Some  are 
smaller  than  others,  the  greatest  variation  being  in  the 
males.  It  is  these  maggots  that  do  the  damage,  feeding 
upon  the  clover  seed,  while  yet  in  the  dough  state,  and  issu- 
ing, when  the}*  have  completed  their  growth,  in  the  last  part 
of  June,  from  the  head,  to  undergo  their  second  transforma- 
tion in  the  soil.  The  sight  of  these  larvae  or  maggots  leav- 
ing the  clover  is  said  to  be  an  interesting  one.  The  head, 
which  one  moment  seems  destitute  of  animal  life,  becomes 
the  next  fairly  swarming  with  the  maggots.  From  nearly 
-every  closed  floret  one  emerges,  wriggles  violently  and  works 
its  way  out  and  falls  to  the  ground. 

It  should  be  stated  in  advance  that  insects  of  this  kind 
exist  in  four  stages,  the  egg,  the  maggot  or  larva,  the  pupa, 
in  which  stage  the  insect  passes  through  its  transformation, 
and  to  outward  appearance  to  the  superficial  observer  is 
dead,  prior  to  assuming  the  fourth  stage,  that  of  the  perfect 
fly.  It  will,  therefore,  be  understood  when  we  speak  of 
larvae  that  we  refer  to  the  maggot  stage,  and  of  pupae  to  the 
stage  in  which  the  insect  passes  through  its  final  period  of 
transformation.  This  insect  is,  in  the  latitude  of  central 
Iowa,  two-brooded,  while  in  the  more  southern  latitudes  it  is 
supposed  to  be  three.  After  the  insect  has  taken  on  its 
pupal  stage,  which  is  said  to  last  about  ten  days,  but  no 
doubt  varies,  it  emerges  as  a  fly,  and  after  mating,  is  ready 
to  lay  a  second  crop  of  eggs  in  the  second  crop  of  clover, 
hence,  it  will  be  readily  seen  how  vast  are  the  means  of 
multiplication. 

There  are  but  two  methods  known  of  combating  the  clo- 
ver-seed midge.  The  first  is  that  of  cutting  the  first  crop, 
whether  in  the  meadow  or  in  the  pastures,  before  the  first  crop 
of  the  midge  leaves  the  head.  To  make  this  method  effective, 
it  would  have  to  be  done,  not  merely  on  one  farm,  and  all 
parts  of  it,  pastures  as  well  as  meadows,  but  on  all  the 
farms  of  the  neighborhood.  It  is  very  difficult,  if  not  impos- 
sible, to  induce  farmers  to  co-operate  in  this  way,  however 
much  their  interests  might  require  it.  The  second  method, 
which  is  almost  equally  as  difficult,  is  to  abandon  for  the  time 
being  the  use  of  the  common  red  clover,  and  sow  mammoth  in 
its  stead.  This  variety,  as  stated  in  preceding  chapters,  comes 
in  bloom  some  two  or  three  weeks  later  than  the  common  red, 
and  matures  its  seed  crop  about  the  time  the  second  crop  of 
the  common  red  is  in  bloom.  The  midge  so  far  has  not  been 
able  to  time  its  visits  so  as  to  make  the  mammoth  the  medium 
for  producing  the  second  crop.  This  method,  suggested  by 


130  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

the  well  known  periods  of  the  appearance  of  the  midge,  seem* 
to  have  been  found  entirely  practicable  in  Ohio  and  eastern 
states  where  the  midge  has  fully  established  itself.  It  is  im- 
portant to  use  very  great  care  in  procuring  seed,  as  the  midge 
is  likely  to  be  carried  in  the  seed  and  planted  where  it  will 
develop  and  form  a  new  starting  point  for  this  pest.  Clover 
seed  should  never  be  purchased  except  after  being  examined, 
with  a  strong  magnifying  glass.  With  or  without  a  glass 
the  best  way  of  detecting  it  is  by  running  a  handful  on  white 
paper,  and  if  the  maggots  are  in  the  seed  they  will  be  easily 
recognized.  Where  they  are  found  the  seed  should  be  re- 
jected, although  they  would  probably  be  destroyed  by  the  hot 
water  treatment  known  as  that  of  Jensen  for  smut;  viz.r 
steeping  the  seed  just  before  sowing,  first  in  water  at  a  tem- 
perature of  120  degrees,  and  then  afterward  in  water  of  the 
temperature  of  135  degrees.  Although  we  have  never  tried 
this  on  clover  seed,  oats  has  been  found  to  endure  this  tem- 
perature for  fifteen  minutes.  Miss  Eleanor  Ormerod,  of  St. 
Albans,  Eng.,  formerly  consulting  entomologist  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society,  states  that  the  midge  has  been  found  in 
American  seed  exported  to  England,  and  emphasizes  the  ne- 
cessity for  the  greatest  watchfulness  in,  purchasing  clover 
seed  from  any  locality  known  to  be  infected. 

Like  most  other  insects  when  they  multiply  in  great  num- 
bers, the  clover-seed  midge  seems  to  have  its  parasites.  Prof. 
Riley,  in  his  report  to  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  to  be 
found  in  the  Report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for 
1879,  page  196,  describes  two  parasites  which  work  on  the 
midge  and  greatly  reduce  their  numbers.  The  first  is  a  chal- 
cid,  called  Eurytoma  funebris,  belonging  to  the  same  family 
as  the  joint  worm  fly.  This  parasite,  which  is  very  minute, 
undergoes  its  transformations  within  the  seed,  and  gnaws  an 
irregular  hole  through  the  seed  large  enough  to  let  it  out 
shortly  after  the  time  when  the  maggots  have  left  the  seed  to- 
go  into  the  ground.  An  examination  of  an  infected  field  by 
Prof.  Riley  on  the  20th  of  June  showed  that  five-sixths  of  the 
seed  had  been  destroyed  by  the  midges,  and  that  four-fifths  of 
the  midges  had  been  destroyed  by  this  parasite. 

Another  parasite,  belonging  to  a  different  family,  called 
Platygaster  error,  (Fitch,)  has  been  found  working  on  the 
midge  in  New  York.  Instead  of  undergoing  its  transforma- 
tions entirely  within  the  seed,  the  parasite  stays  with  the 
midge,  goes  with  it  into  the  ground  and  emerges  as  a  full- 
grown  parasite  from  the  cocoon  of  the  midge.  Prof.  Beal  in 
his  work  on  grasses,  p.  391,  states  that  the  larva  (of  the  fall 
brood,  of  course)  has  been  found  in  seed  on  the  market,  and 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


131 


that  this  explains  the  rapid  distribution  of  this  insect.  This 
emphasizes  the  importance  of  farmers  procuring  their  seed, 
wherever  it  is  possible,  from  the  growers  and  from  men  of 
well  known  reputation  whose  fields  have  not  been  infected  by 
the  insect. 

Another  clover  pest,  well  known  in  the  East,  and  which 
has  become  somewhat  common  as  far  west  as  Iowa,  is  the 
clover-seed  caterpillar,  (grapholipha  inteistinctana,  Clemens.) 
These  caterpillars  now  seem  to  be  quite  widely  distributed, 
having-  first  appeared  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Washing- 
ton and  Michigan  prior  to  1885.  They  were  first  noticed  in 
very  great  numbers  at  Ames,  Iowa,  the  last  of  May,  1891. 
The  following  description  is  ta- 
ken mainly  from  Bulletin  No.  14, 
Iowa  Experiment  Station,  Au- 
gust, 1891.  The  moths  increased 
from  the  time  they  were  first  ob- 
served until  the  3d  of  June,  and 
on  the  25th  of  June  an  examina- 
tion of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  heads  showed  ninety-one 
heads  infested  by  the  caterpil- 
lars of  the  moth  and  eighty-six 
not  infested.  At  this  time  many 
larvae  were  full  gro,wn  and  some 
were  spinning  their  cocoons. 
The  hay  was  cut  at  this  date  and 
an  examination  of  forty-eight 
clover  heads  taken  from  scattered  bunches  showed  two-thirds 
of  them  infested,  while  of  forty-two  heads  from  a  different 
field,  cut  two  days  earlier,  only  three  were  found  infested.  The 
accompanying  illustration,  original  with  the  Iowa  Experi- 
mental Station,  will  enable  our  readers  to  identify  this  pest; 
a  represents  the  larva,  or  caterpillar;  #,  the  pupa,  or  larva 
undergoing  its  transformation  to  a  moth;  c,  the  moth,  all 
these  greatly  magnified,  while  d  represents  the  moth  in  its 
natural  state.  >  The  larvae  are  dirty  white  and  the  pupae  a  light 
brown,  while  the  moths  are  small,  brown  and  often  nearly 
black,  with  white  lines  and  dots  marking  the  wings.  The 
larvae  are  about  one-fourth  of  an  inch  long,  while  the  moths 
are  from  one-third  to  two-fifths  of  an  inch,  with  wings  ex- 
panded. The  damage  done  by  this  insect  is  by  eating  into  the 
florets  or  small  flowers,  of  which  the  clover  head  is  composed, 
and  later  into  the  seed  vessels  of  the  florets,  causing  the  flow- 
ers to  dry  up  and  the  seeds  to  shell  from  their  receptacles  like 
chaff.  Inasmuch  as  the  track  of  the  larvce  is  uniformly  from 


THE  CLOVER-SEED  CATEKPILLAB. 


132  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

the  base  of  the  blossom  or  floret  upward,  and  the  young-  larvae 
•  are  found  almost  invariably  near  the  base,  and  beginning-  their 
~work  on  the  florets'  there,  it  would  seem  that  the  eg-g-s  are  de- 
posited at  the  base  of  the  floret.  In  working-  upward  they 
msually  form  a  spiral  track  around  it. 

The  second  brood  were  observed  at  Ames,  pairing-  during 
"the  last  week  of  July,  and  by  August  5th  the  larvae  were 
found  in  great  numbers.  This  rate  of  growth  would  seem  to 
-indicate  that  there  are  three  broods  per  year  in  the  latitude  of 
-Iowa,  and  possibly,  though  not  probably,  four. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  Bulletin  19  of  the  Iowa 
^Experiment  Station  has  been  issued,  containing  the  results  of 
'Careful  investigations  during  the  season  of  1892,  by  Mr.  H.  A. 
^Gossard,  assistant  entomologist,  who  has  g-iven  special  atten- 
tion to  this  species.     This  investigation  shows  that  the  insect 
us  three  brooded  in  Iowa ;  that  moths  appear  in  late  May  or 
>early  June,  deposit  eggs  in  June  in  the  involucre  of  the  clover 
head  or  in  the  florets,  and  larvae  occur  in  heads  of  clover  in 
flatter  part  of  June.     When  the  clover  is  not  in  bloom,  eggs 
>  may  be  deposited  in  the  crown  and  the  larvae  work  on  other 
parts  of  the  plant.     Pupation  occurs  in  late   Tune  or  early 
July  <vnd  moths  appearing  during  July  deposit  eggs  for  second 
brood.     These  mature  and  produce  moths  for  third  brood  in 
•early  September,  and  caterpillars  of  this  generation,  the  third 
brood,  become  parti}-  grown  and  hibernate,-  pupating  in  spring 
-and  producing  the  first  brood  of  moths  of  the  following  season. 
The  remedies  recommended  are :  1st,  rotation  of  crops, 
•<not  keeping  clover  on  same  ground  over  three  years,  and  only 
:two  if  the  field  becomes  badly  infested;  2d,  that  seed  for  new 
*crop  be  planted  on  land  as  remote  as  possible  from  old  clover 
iields;   3d,  that  infested  fields  from   which   seed   is  desired 
the  following  year  be  pastured  in  fall  to  clean  up  all  late 
growth  and  leave  the  field  free  from  vegetation  in  the  fall,  and 
that  no  manure  be  applied  at  the  time  to  furnish  places  for 
larvae  to  hibernate  ;  4th,  that  clover  infested  during  the  spring 
be  cut  as  early  as  practicable,  while  larvae  are  in  heads,  han- 
dled as  carefully  as  possible  to  prevent  shaking  larvae  from  the 
heads,  and  stored  in  stacks  or  barns,  where  the  larvae  are  found 
"to  perish  ;  5th,  when  ready  to  change  from  clover  to  another 
•crop,  plow  under  some  time  in  October,  November  or  early  ill 
spring,  burying  the  larvae  as  deeply  as  possible,  and  roll  or 
harrow  to  pack  the  surface. 

Several  parasites  have  been  reared  at  Ames,  and  these 
will  assist  in  reducing  numbers  under  ordinary  conditions. 


THE  CLOVER  ROOT  TUBERCLE. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


In  previous  chapters  we  have  assumed  certain  facts,, 
namely,  that  the  clovers  of  all  kinds  fertilize  the  soil  while  at 
the  same  time  furnishing-,  in  the  crop,  a  very  large  amount  ol 
nutritive  material  of  the  richest  quality;  second,  that  the  fer- 
tilizing- material  furnished  by  the  clovers  is  in  the  form  ol 
nitrogenous  compounds  which  we  have  grouped  under  the 
general  name,  nitrogen,  and  third,  that  this  surplus  of  nitro>- 
gen  is  obtained  from  the  atmosphere  through  the  medium  of 
the  tubercles  or  nodules  on  the  roots  of  the  clovers,  eighty 
per  cent,  of  the  atmosphere  being  nitrogen,  and  therefore  fur- 
nishing an  inexhaustible  supply. 

Having  assumed  these  facts  so  frequently  and  stated  them 
so  confidently,  it  is  but  due  to  the  reader  that  we  should  give, 
in  as  brief  and  concise  a  manner  as  possible,  the  reasons  for 
this  frequent  assumption  and  confident  statement.  The  fact 
that  clover  adds  materially  to  the  fertility  of  the  land  on 
which  it  is  grown,  notwithstanding  the  heavy  drains  it  makes 
upon  its  resources,  is  too  well  known  to  need  argument.  The 
fact  that  this  fertility  is  mainly  in  the  form  of  nitrogenous 
compounds  might  well  be  suspected  from  the  fact  that  all 
kinds  of  grain  which  make  heavy  drafts  on  the  nitrogen  in 
the  soil  do  better  after  clover  than  following  any  other  crop,, 
and  has  been  very  clearly  proved  by  analyses  of  soils  in  pots  on 
which  clover  has  been  grown,  the  analyses  having  been  made 
both  before  and  after  growing  the  clover,  and  in  a  way  whicfo 
precludes  any  material  errors. 

The  fact  having  been  ascertained  that  clover  does  in  some- 
way obtain  a  supply  of  nitrogen,  under  certain  circumstances^ 

(133) 


134  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

quite  independent  of  the  supply  in  the  soil,  the  interesting-  and 
important  question  arises,  how  does  it  obtain  it  ?  It  was  a1 
first  supposed,  and  quite  naturally,  that  it  obtained  it  by 
means  of  its  long-  tap-root,  but,  while  it  does  no  doubt  in  thi? 
way  restore  a  certain  portion  of  the  nitrates  that  have  been 
washed  down  by  rains  into  the  subsoil,  the  amount  has  been 
found  to  be  very  inconsiderable  compared  with  the  entire 
amount  obtained.  It  was  next  supposed  that  the  supply  was 
obtained  from  the  nitrog-en  in  the  form  of  ammonia  in  the 
atmosphere.  This  ammonia,  washed  out,  as  it  is,  by  rains, 
would  be  equally  available  for  any  other  plant,  and  hence,  so 
far  as  root  action  is  concerned,  in  no  way  aids  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  small  amount 
of  nitric  acid  that  is  known  to  be  formed  in  the  atmosphere  by 
•electrical  action. 

The  question  has  arisen,  whether  the  clovers  do  not  obtain 
their  supply  of  nitrog-en  from  these  two  last  sources  through 
their  leaves.  To  test  this  matter  clovers  have  been  grown  in 
pots  with  access  to  air  alone  that  had  been  washed  by  being- 
passed  throug-h  water,  thus  removing-  the  nitric  acid  or  ammo- 
nia, and  the  result  was  precisely  the  same  as  in  the  case  of 
similar  pots  grown  in  the  open  air.  Every  other  means  of 
determining-  the  source  of  nitrogen  in  the  clovers  having- 
failed,  attention  was  directed  to  the  tubercles  in  the  roots. 

If  the  reader  will  pull  up  a  stalk  of  any  of  the  clovers, 
during-  the  growing-  season,  he  will  notice  on  the  roots,  some- 
times on  the  smaller  and  sometimes  on  the  larger,  certain 
knots,  warts  or  protuberances.  These  are  the  tubercles,  a 
somewhat  unfortunate  name  because  associated  with  disease, 
but  so  definitely  associated  with  them  that  it  is  useless  to 
attempt  to  change  it  now.  He  will  notice  that  the  healthier 
the  plant  and  the  more  vigorous  its  growth,  the  more  of  these 
tubercles  will  be  found,  and  he  will  fail  to  find  an^-where  a 
healthy  stalk  of  clover,  during  the  period  of  vigorous  growth, 
without  these  tubercles.  It  was  this  apparent  connection  be- 
tween the  number  and  size  of  the  tubercles  and  the  vig-or  of 
the  plant  that  led  Prof.  Helrieg-el,  of  Bernberg-,  Germany,  to 
investigate,  in  1883  and  the  years  following,  the  cause  of  the 
tubercles  on  the  leg-umes  and  also  the  relation  they  sustain 
to  the  plant.  As  early  as  1862  he  had  been  conducting-  certain 
elaborate  experiments  for  the  purpose  of  determining-  whether, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  magnitude  of  crops  was  propor- 
tionate to  the  supply  of  certain  essential  elements  of  fertility 
in  the  soil.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  determining-  that  in  the 
case  of  the  cereals,  such  as  wheat,  oats  and  barley,  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  yield  was  proportionate  to  the  nitrogen  in  the 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  135 

soil ;  no  nitrogen,  no  crop;  a  certain  amount  yielding  practi- 
cally the  same  crop,  and  the  crop  increasing-  with  the  increase 
of  nitrogen  ;  but  he  soon  discovered  that  certain  other  plants 
were,  under  certain  circumstances,  almost  entirely  independent 
of  any  nitrogen  in  the  soil.  He  saw  to  his  surprise,  as  far 
back  as  1862-3,  clover  and  peas  growing  in  a  crop  of  pure 
sand  and  producing  a  full  crop  of  seed,  while  in  other  years, 
and  apparently  under  the  same  conditions,  they  starved  to 
death.  He  discovered  that  when  clover  and  peas,  growing  in 
the  most  barren  soil,  had  abundance  of  tubercles  they  pros- 
pered, and  when  the  tubercles  were  wanting,  death  ensued. 
He  then  began  a  series  of  most  elaborate  experiments,  con- 
ducted with  the  greatest  care,  to  discover  under  what  condi- 
tions the  clovers  and  other  legumes  were  thus  independent  of 
soil  nitrogen,  and  from  what  source  other  than  the  soil  they 
obtained  it.  It  is  due  to  the  thoughtful  reader  that  we  should 
detail  at  some  length  the  nature  of  these  investigations. 

For  a  soil  material  to  be  used  in  his  investigations,  Prof. 
Helriegel  selected  fine  quartz  sand,  such  as  is  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  glass.  This  was  washed  twice  and  boiled  in 
concentrated  muriatic  acid  three  times  for  the  purpose  of 
removing  completely  every  vestige  of  fertility.  As  culture 
vessels,  he  used  cylinders  of  white  glass  of  different  sizes, 
each  having  a  hole  in  the  bottom  for  drainage.  Pieces  of 
quartz  that  had  been  washed  carefully  and  then  heated  red 
hot  were  put  in  the  bottom  to  afford  air  drainage.  Upon  this 
was  placed  a  thin  layer  of  unsized  wadding  and  on  this  the 
sand,  which  after  fertilization  in  a  porcelain  vessel  was  crum- 
bled into  the  culture  vessels  under  slight  pressure  in  order  to 
secure  the  proper  degree  of  porosity  and  density.  The  seeds 
to  be  used  for  this  purpose  were  selected  with  extreme  care. 
From  a  large  number  of  samples  the  very  heavy  and  very  light 
were  excluded.  The  remainder  were  then  sprouted  between 
folds  of  blotting  paper,  and  if  there  was  developed  any  defect- 
ive root  or  abnormal  growth  it  was  rejected,  the  object  being 
to  secure  even  results.  Fourteen  vessels  thus  prepared  were 
sown  to  barley  and  fertilized  with  commercial  fertilizers,  con- 
taining potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  but  no  nitrogen.  Nitro- 
gen in  the  form  of  nitrate  of  lime  was  then  given  in  the 
following  proportions:  No.  1,  .0336  grains ;  Nos.  2,  3  and  4, 
two-thirds  of  the  amount;  No.  5,  one-half  the  amount;  Nos.  6, 
7  and  8,  one-third  of  the  amount;  Nos.  9,  10  and  11,  one-sixth 
of  the  amount;  No.  12,  one-twelfth,  and  Nos.  13  and  14,  none. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  week  after  sprouting  the  plants  were 
exactly  alike;  no  difference  whatever  could  be  noted.  A  few 
•days  afterward,  or  as  soon  as  the  reserved  nutriment  in  the 


136  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

seed  was  about  exhausted,  Nos.  13  and  14  began  to  fail.  For 
a  few  days  after  this  no  perceptible  difference  could  be  noted 
in  the  growth  of  the  other  plants.  No.  12  then  dropped  behind 
an£  a  few  days  later  Nos.  9,  10  and  11,  and,  after  a  short  inter- 
val, all  the  others  up  to  No.  1  could  be  identified  by  their  ap- 
pearance, so  that  in  a  month  from  the  time  the  first  plants 
appeared  the  row  of  pots  showed  clearly  which  had  received 
the  larger  amounts  of  nitrogen.  This  was  manifest  not  merely 
in  the  height  and  general  vigor  of  the  stalk,  but  in  the  num- 
ber of  shoots  or  stools  put  forth.  No.  1  put  out  five  shoots- 
or  stools;  Nos.  2,  3  and  4  put  out  four,  one  only  of  them  bear- 
ing a  head ;  No.  5,  from  three  to  four,  one  bearing  a  head ; 
the  remainder  from  one  to  two,  but  all  failed  to  head.  Later 
on,  however,  the  main  stalk  consumed  the  side  shoots  to  build 
itself  up.  The  next  lower  also  consumed  their  earlier-formed 
parts  in  their  effort  to  develop  heads.  The  results  of  this- 
experiment  with  a  non-leguminous  plant  are  only  what  might 
have  been  expected,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  repeated  over 
and  over  again  and  always  with  the  same  result,  namely,  that 
within  certain  limits  the  yield  of  the  cereals  or  non-leguminous 
plants  is  dependent  upon  the  amount  of  nitrogen  in  the  soil 
available  for  the  plant. 

x  Having  thus  demonstrated  that  the  cereals  were  abso- 
lutely dependent  upon  the  amount  of  available  nitrogen  in 
the  soil,  Prof.  Helriegel  conducted  a  series  of  elaborate 
experiments  with  the  legumes,  of  which  we  give  one  typical 
case.  Fourteen  pots  were  selected,  identical  with  the  others, 
the  soil  material,  the  manner  of  filling  and  the  fertilizers 
being  precisely  the  same.  No.  66  having  the  same  amount 
of  nitrogen  as  No.  1  in  the  barley  experiments,  and  Nos.  77, 
78  and  79  corresponding  in  amount  to  Nos.  13  and  14  of  the 
barley  table,  or,  in  other  words,  with  no  nitrogen.  ^The 
plants  all  came  up  well  and  evenly,  and  there  was  no  differ- 
ence in  the  pots  up  to  the  end  of  the  second  week.  The  third 
week  there  was  a  difference  not  only  in  growth,  but  in  color. 
Those  that  had  no  nitrogen  were  somewhat  higher  and  of  a 
somewhat  greener  color,  while  those  that  had  been  fertilized 
with  nitrogen  were  darker,  and  the  more  nitrogen,  the  darker. 
The  fourth  week  a  difference  in  the  development  began  to 
appear.  -Pots  77,  78  and  79  fell  back,  showing  signs  of 
nitrogen  hunger.  The  new  leaves  were  smaller  and  they 
seemed  to  be  formed  by  pumping  out  and  drying  up  of  the 
lower  leaves.  The  numbers  grew  normally  and  by  the  end  of 
the  sixth  week  the  whole  row  of  experimental  pots  very 
accurately  reflected  in  their  condition  and  appearance  the 
amount  of  nitrogen  each  had  received.  During  the  seventh 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  137 

•week  the  picture  very  suddenly  and  decidedly  changed  with- 
out any  apparent  cause.  No.  77  continued  to  be  in  a 
starving  condition,  but  two  plants  in  79  took  courage  and  a 
little  later,  two  in  78  followed  the  example.  Their  sickly 
green  color  gave  place  to  a  healthier,  new  leaves  grew 
stronger  and  broader  and  without  consuming  any  of  the 
earlier  developed  leaves.  From  this  time  on  they  made 
rapid  growth  and  by  the  eleventh  week  they  had  overtaken 
those  abundantly  supplied  with  nitrogen  and  passed  many  of 
them.  From  this  time  on  there  was  no  relation  or  correspon- 
dence whatever  between  development  and  the  quantity  of 
•nitrogen  supplied,  while  the  harvest  bore  the  same  general 
result,  and  subsequent  analyses  showing,  in  some  cases, 
plants  containing  less  nitrogen  than  had  been  given  the 
vessel  in  which  they  grew,  in  others  more,  and  in  some  large 
•quantities  of  nitrogen  where  none  at  all  had  been  given. 
On  this  Prof.  Helriegel  says  : 

Three  years  of  this  kind  of  experiment  demonstrated  two  facts 
clearly,  first,  that  the  legumes  had  found  a  source  of  nitrogen  somewhere 
else  than  in  the  soil,  and  that,  second,  they  might  or  might  not  thrive 
even  though  the  soil  was  amply  supplied  with  nitrogen  in  a  form  render- 
ing it  available  for  other  plants — in  short,  while  the  harvested  plant  con- 
tained abundant  nitrogen,  whether  the  soil  had  or  had  not  contained  any, 
Deemed  to  have  no  connection  with  or  influence  upon  the  amount  con- 
.tained  in  the  plant.  Chance  seemed  to  rule.  The  thriving  pea  vine  two 
months  old  might  fail  utterly,  although  supplied  with  abundant  nutri- 
ment in  the  shape  of  complete  fertilizers,  or  it  might  do  well  with  one 
from  which  nitrogen  had  been  wholly  omitted  The  first  inference  was 
that  the  pea  had  some  source  from  which  to  provide  nitrogen  other  than 
the  soil,  or,  rather,  some  peas  had  and  others,  apparently  under  precisely 
the  same  conditions,  had  not.  What  was  the  source?  And  why  could 
some  plants  draw  on  that  source  and  others  not? 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  give  details  of  all  the  experi- 
ments undertaken  to  answer  these  two  questions,  for  they 
cover  upwards  of  200  pages  of  Prof.  Helriegel's  work,  of 
which  we  aim  to  give  our  readers  only  the  substance.  One 
cannot  read  them  without  admiring  the  patience  and  intelli- 
gent discriminations  of  the  investigator,  without  admiring" 
also  the  methods  of  true  science  which  seeks  to  narrow 
downward  gradually  by  experimental  proof  until  one  by  one 
the  facts  are  set  aside  as  demonstrated,  all  bearing  one  way 
and  leading  up  to  one  inevitable  conclusion.  As  stated 
above,  it  was  first  discovered  that  plants  that  did  well  without 
nitrogenous  fertilizers  had  tubercles  on  their  roots ;  those 
that  did  not  do  so  well,  had  fewer,  those  that  did  not  do  well 
at  all,  had  none,  or  nearly  none.  The  connection  between 
the  presence  of  tubercles  on  the  roots  of  the  legumes  and  the 
capacity  to  obtain  nitrogen,  where  there  was  none  in  the  soil, 


138  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

could  not  long  remain  unsuspected,  and  numerous,  long-  and 
carefully  conducted  examinations  only .  served  to  confirm  the 
investigator  in  the  certainty  that  tubercles  and  power  were 
closely  correlated.  Tubercles  and  power  was  the  law,  while 
also  no  tubercles  and  no  power  was  also  a  law.  There  was 
no  visible  cause  for  the  tubercles.  What  was  more  natural 
for  the  scientist  than  to  suspect  an  invisible  cause.  Recent 
discoveries  in  other  fields  suggested  that  probably  the  tuber- 
cles were  of  bacterial  origin.  To  determine  this,  waddingr 
which  lets  in  air,  but  strains  out  bacteria,  was  placed  over 
the  pots.  The  result  was  that  no  bacteria  could  get  in,, 
hence,  no  tubercles  were  formed,  hence,  no  nitrogen  was 
taken  up,  hence,  no  thrift  in  the  plant.  Nitrogen  hunger,, 
nitrogen  starvation,  was  nature's  answer  to  the  question  of 
the  experimenter. 

Pursuing  his  investigations  further,  Prof.  Helriegel 
found  that  some  pots  left  uncovered  thrived,  others  did  not, 
and  none  covered  with  wadding  did.  The  scientific  infer- 
ence, therefore,  was  that  whether  they  throve  or  not  depended 
on  whether  bacteria  found  an  entrance  by  chance.  Another 
equally  clear  inference  was  that  the  ground  where  clover, 
beans,  peas  and  other  legumes  had  grown  must  be  full  of  it. 
This  was  readily  tested  by  placing  soils  in  which  these  plants 
had  grown  in  the  vessel  with  water,  and  after  the  sedimen  I 
had  all  settled  to  the  bottom,  and  the  water  had  become  clear , 
decanting  carefully  so  as  to  take  nothing  but  the  clear  water . 
He  then  watered  the  plants  that  were  drooping  from  nitroge  n 
hunger,  and  straightway  every  plant  thus  treated  developed 
tubercles  and  acquired  the  power  of  securing  nitrogen,  when 
there  was  none  in  the  soil  in  which  it  grew.  He  then  too  b 
of  the  same  water  and  sterilized  it  by  boiling  to  kill  all  th  e 
bacterial  life,  watered  the  plants  with  this,  protecting  them 
by  wadding  from  accidental  bacterial  inoculation,  and  the 
result  was  that  no  tubercles  were  formed,  no  power  to  take  up 
litrogen  was  developed  and  there  was  no  thrifty  growth. 

The  illustration  on  the  following  page  will  aid  the  reader 
n  securing  a  clearer  comprehension  of  what  occurs  as  root 
:ubercles  are  developed  in  the  legumes.  It  is  taken  from  the 
Lehrbuch  der  Pflanzenphysiologie,  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Frank, 
professor  in  the  Agricultural  High  i;jhool  at  Berlin.  * 

•  Figure  A  in  the  illustration  is  a  root  of  the  lupine  on 
which  are  several  root  tubercles.  Figure  B  is  a  section  of  a 
*oot  tubercle ;  at  f  is  seen  the  central  woody-fibrous  co  rd 
ind  around  it,  within  the  root  bark,  the  fleshy  parts  of  t  he 
Dacterial  tissue.  Figure  C  shows  the  first  stage  of  infecti  on,, 
which  precedes  the  formation  of  the  tubercles ;  £,  e  is  the 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 

8 


*• 


a    *^ 

\    t  •; 

••' -A  .  .•/        » 


TUBERCLES  ON  THE  ROOT  OF  THE  SUPINE. 


140  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

epidermis  beneath  which  are  the  root-bark  cells  ;  in  the  cell  t 
the  infecting-  spore  has  entered ;  in  the  bark  cells  lying-  next 
beneath,  infection  has  also  taken  place,  and  they  have  thereby 
become  filled  with  a  thick,  shining-  protoplasm,  with  enlarged 
cell  germs.  This  figure  is  magnified  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  times.  Figure  D  is  a  more  advanced  stage  of 
the  development ;  /  was  the  point  of  infection ;  beneath,  the 
cells  of  first  infection  have  by  a  process  of  cell-division,  intro- 
duced greater  complexity  and  formed  other  infecting  cells, 
which  are  themselves  upon  the  point  of  further  sub-division  \ 
r,  r  is  the  root  bark  ;  /z,  /*,  h  rootlets ;  en  is  the  endodermis, 
or  inner  skin  within  which  lies  the  fibrous  or  woody  part  of 
the  root,  not  shown  in  the  cut.  This  figure  is  magnified 
seventy  times.  Figure  E  is  a  cross-section  of  a  root  with  a 
young  tubercle.  By  means  of  a  further  increase  of  the 
infected  cells  the  bacterial  tissue  b  has  been  formed,  which  at 
02,  m  is  in  process  of  further  development  through  division  ; 
/  is  the  fibrous  or  woody  cord  of  the  root  from  which  run 
branches  through  the  bacterial  tissue  ;  r  is  the  root  bark. 
The  figure  is  only  slightly  magnified.  Figure  F  is  from 
cells  of  the  bacterial  tissue,  whose  contents  are  clouded  and 
thickened  by  being  filled  with  masses  of  bacteria.  The  cell 
germs  are  visible  and  a  few  starch  granules.  The  figure  is 
magnified  230  times.  Figure  G  is  a  number,  of  bacteria 
from  the  cells  of  F  magnified  1090  times.  Figure  H\s>  a 
cluster  of  the  Rhizobinum  leguminosarum,  produced  by  a 
gelatine  culture  of  the  bacteria  ;  in  the  center  is  seen  a  few  of 
the  latter  within  which  clusters  are  visible.  At  s  is  seen 
the  cluster  separated ;  at  z  the  zoogloa  state  composed  of  a 
cluster  that  has  united, 

At  the  same  time  that  Prof.  Helreigel  and  others  were 
prosecuting  these  investigations,  Prof.  W.  O.  Atwater,  then 
of  Middletown,  Connecticut,  was  performing  the  same 
important  service  for  America.  In  1881  he  instituted  a 
series  of  experiments  which  were  repeated  in  1882,  and 
brought  positive  evidence  of  the  acquisition  by  peas  of  large 
quantities  of  nitrogen  from  the  air  during  their  period  of 
growth.  The  investigation  was  unavoidably  interrupted 
until  1885,  when  four  other  series  of  investigations  revealed 
large  losses  of  nitrogen  during  germination  and  early  growth 
in  all  cases  where  root  tubercles  were  not  formed. .  The 
results  of  the  experiments  of  the  first  series  were  reported  to 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
for  1881,  and  those  of  the  first  and  second  series  together 
were  reported  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  and 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  14. 

in  1884,  and  in  detail  in  the  American  Chemical  Journal, 
volume  6,  page  365  (February,  1885).  The  question  foi 
study  in  the  first  series  was  :  Will  peas  grown  under  normal 
conditions  acquire  any  considerable  amount  of  nitrogen  free 
or  combined  from  the  air?  When  the  subject  was  resumed 
in  1885,  it  was  to  obtain  an  answer  to  the  two  following  ques- 
tions :  What  effect  has  the  addition  of  soil  infusions  on  the 
formation  of  root  tubercles,  and  is  there  any  definite  relation 
between  the  quantity  and  the  number  of  root  tubercles  and 
the  quantity  of  atmospheric  nitrogen  obtained  by  the  plant? 
We  cannot  follow  the  experiments  in  detail.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  they  were  conducted  with  sea  sand,  thoroughly  washed 
and  boiled  and  the  methods  adopted  were  almost  identical 
with  those  adopted  by  the  German  experimenters.  They 
covered,  as  in  the  German  experiments,  the  cereals  as 
well  as  the  legumes,  and  the  conclusions  to  which  Prof. 
Atwater  arrived  were,  that  the  cereals  could  not  obtain  nitro- 
gen from  the  atmosphere,  while  the  legumes  could  and  did. 
His  conclusions  may  be  summed  up  as  follows :  That  the 
leguminous  plants  in  general  are  able  to  secure  large  quan- 
tities of  nitrogen  from  the  air  during  their  period  of  growth  ; 
that  there  is  scarcely  room  to  doubt  thai  t^e  free  nitrogen  of 
the  air  is  thus  acquired  by  the  plant ;  that  without  root  tuber- 
cles there  was  in  no  case  any  large  gain  of  nitrogen,  and  that 
with  them  there  was  uniformly  more  or  less  gain,  and  that 
the  greater  the  abundance  and  number  of  root  tubercles 
the  larger  and  more  vigorous  the  plants  and  the  greater  the 
amount  of  atmospheric  nitrogen  acquired.  Still  further, 
that  the  connection  between  the  root  tubercles  and  the 
acquisition  of  nitrogen  is:  clearly  demonstrated,  but  that  the 
relation  of  the  bacteria  to  the  root  tubercles  and  to  the 
acquisition  of  nitrogen,  and  in  general  how  the  nitrogen  is 
obtained,  are  questions  yet  to  be  solved.  In  conclusion  Prof. 
Atwater  says : 

This  subject  has  a  wider  significance  than  what  has  been  said  above 
implies.  The  future  welfare  of  our  race,  material,  intellectual  and  moral, 
depends  upon  the  food  supply,  or,  in  other  words,  upon  the  product  of  the 
soil.  This  in  turn  reduces  itself  essentially  to  a  question  of  phosphoric 
acid,  potash  and  nitrogen.  Enough  of  the  first  two  for  an  indefinite  time 
to  come  is  assured  in  the  deposits  of  phosphates  and  potash  salts  already 
discovered,  but  the  probability  of  a  sufficient  supply  of  nitrogen  has  been 
Questioned.  This  costliest  of  the  fertilizing  elements  escapes  from  our 
soils  into  the  air  and  into  the  sea,  and  is  taken  away  by  crops,  and  not 
completely  returned.  Artificial  fertilizers  promise  to  meet  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  coming  demand.  If,  as  has  been  urged,  the  exhaustless 
stores  of  the  atmosphere  are  not  available  to  plants,  the  outlook  is  dark 
enough.  But  if  the  farmer  may  use  his  crops  to  gather  it,  without  money 
and  without  price,  we  may  dismiss  our  solicitude.  With  the  assurance 


142  CLOVER  CULTUKJ& 

that  plants  obtain  nitrogen  from  the  air,  the  fear  of  starvation  for  tht 
over-populated  earth  of  the  future  may  be  ignored.  That  research  will 
bring  the  brighter  answer  to  this  problem,  there  seems  to  be  most  excel- 
lent reason  to  believe.* 

In  1891  we  visited  the  celebrated  Experiment  Station  con- 
ducted by  Sir  J.  B.  Lawes,  of  Rothamstead,  England,  the 
oldest  and  in  many  respects  most  complete  experiment  station 
in  the  world,  and  found  that  not  only  had  this  distinguished 
experimenter  and  his  scarcely  less  distinguished  assistant,  Dr. 
Gilbert,  full  faith  in  the  capacity  of  clover  and  other  legumes 
to  obtain  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere,  but  that  their  experi- 
mental grounds  furnished  ocular  demonstration  of  the  truth  of 
this  theory.  A  large  number  of  plots  had  been  sown  with  the 
clovers,  peas,  beans,  lupines  and  other  legumes,  and  fertilized 
more  or  less  with  nitrogen,  while  each  alternate  plot  on  the 
same  kind  of  soil,  to  which  no  nitrogenous  fertilizers  had  been 
applied,  was  sown  with  the  same  plant.  In  very  few  cases 
could  we  detect  the  slightest  difference  in  the  plant,  visiting 
them  as  we  did  at  the  period  of  their  greatest  luxuriance, 
showing  conclusively  that  though  much  nitrogen  might  be 
applied,  the  legumes  found  it  easier  to  assimilate  the  nitrogen 
in  the  atmosphere  than  that  in  the  soil.  We  found  the  lead- 
ing scientific  agriculturists  in  Belgium  and  Scotland  holding 
firmly  to  the  same  belief,  so  that  the  capacity  of  the  legumes 
to  supply  themselves  with  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere  is 
not  a  theory  held  by  a  few  men  here  and  there,  but  is  now  the 
accepted  belief  of  the  agricultural  world,  and  is  regarded  as 
among  the  very  greatest  discoveries  of  the  age. 

The  results,  both  scientific  and  practical,  of  the  above 
investigations  demonstrate  that  clover  receives  its  nitrogen, 
not  from  the  soil  in  which  it  grows,  except  in  the  earlier 
stages,  perhaps,  but  from  bacterial  action  in  the  tubercles 
found  on  the  root  of  the  clover  plant,  and  that  all  the  legumes, 
such  as  beans,  peas,  etc.,  derive  their  nitrogen  in  the  same 
way.  It  leaves,  however,  the  precise  method  in  which  the 
bacteria  obtain  the  nitrogen  from  the  only  source  possible, 
the  atmosphere,  still  unsolved.  It,  however,  explains  some 
things  which  have  sorely  puzzled  practical  clover  growers 
who  never  heard  of  these  investigations.  It  goes  far  toward 
explaining  why  it  is  that  when  clover  is  sown  on  new  lands, 
the  plants  seem  to  take  on  a  vigorous  growth  for  a  week  or 
two  and  then  dwindle  away  and  die.  This  was  our  experience 
for  some  years  in  sowing  clover  on  new  lands,  both  on  the 
raw  prairie  and  in  cultivated  fields,  and  we  have  no  doubt  it 

*A  detailed  account  of  Prof.  Atwater's  experiments  maybe  found  in  the  second 
annual  report  of  the  Storrs  School  Experiment  Station,  Storrs,  Connecticut,  published 
In  1889. 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  143 

na:%  :  .  i  the  experience  of  many  others  similarly  situated. 
Until  we  became  acquainted  with  these  investigations  we  had 
despaired  of  finding"  the  solution  of  the  mystery.  It  explains, 
also,  why  occasional  plants  flourish,  especially  on  portions  of 
the  field  where  the  wild  legumes  grew.  If  allowed  to  remain 
and  mature  seed,  the  clover  gradually  spreads  all  over  the 
field,  securing-  in  time  a  perfect  stand.  As  no  subsequent 
trouble  was  found  in  seeding  these  fields,  there  can  be  but 
one  conclusion,  viz.,  that  the  bacteria  were  present  only  in 
such  spots  in  "the  field  as  had  grown  wild  legumes,  and  that 
they  multiplied  readily  and  extended  all  over  the  field.  We 
might  state  that  recent  investigations  in  Germany  have  shown 
that  it  is  necessary  to  inoculate  or  leaven  certain  fields  or 
portions  of  fields  with  the  microbe  of  lupines,  a  leguminous, 
plant.  The  readiness  with  which  clover  grows  on  gravelly 
points  on  which  nothing  but  prairie  grass  ever  grew,  when 
covered  with  manure  from  cattle,  and  especially  horses  that 
had  been  fed  on  clover  hay,  suggests  that  inoculation  with 
the  microbe  is  fully  as  essential  as  the  sowing  of  clover  seed. 
We  have  felt  that  it  was  due  to  the  reader,  before  closing 
this  volume,  to  state  briefly  the  facts  contained  in  this  chap- 
ter, which  have  been  established  by  the  most  rigid  scientific 
investigation,  in  order  that  they  may  see  that  in  assuming-  in 
almost  every  chapter  of  this  work  that  clover  is  not  dependent 
upon  the  nitrogen  of  the  soil  for  its  growth,  we  are  making 
no  bald,  unsupported  assumption,  but  one  that  has  been  de- 
monstrated with  almost  mathematical  precision,  and  which  is 
now  held  by  scientific  men  in  all  countries  where  science  has 
attempted  to  aid  the  farmer  in  his  work. 


CLOVER  CULTURE-THE  WAY  OUT. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


If  the  assumptions  of  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  work  be 
correct,  and  the  facts  stated  and  the  conclusions  drawn  in  the 
previous  chapter  prove  that  these  are  not  mere  assumptions, 
but  demonstrated  facts  and  established  verities,  clover  culture 
becomes  a  problem  of  the  first  magnitude,  not  only  to  the 
individual  farmer  wherever  he  may  be  located,  but  has  impor- 
tant bearings  on  the  commercial  and  financial  interests  of  the 
entire  nation. 

If  it  be  true,  as  the  concurrent  testimony  of  the  ablest 
-and  most  reliable  scientific  investigators  in  the  world  with 
one  voice  affirm,  that  the  legumes  are,  to  a  great  extent,  inde- 
pendent of  soil  nitrogen  and  supply  themselves  in  preference 
from  the  atmosphere,  why  should  the  farmer  in  the  Atlantic 
and  Middle  states  invest  his  hard-earned  dollars  in  nitrogen 
in  the  form  of  nitrates,  costing  from  ten  to  eighteen  cents  per 
pound,  when  he  can,  through  the  medium  of  the  tubercles 
--on  the  roots  of  the  legumes,  draw  on  the  limitless,  inex- 
haustible supply  of  nitrogen  that  floats  over  him  daily  in  the 
-atmosphere.  The  Connecticut  Experiment  Station  estimates 
that  no  less  than  half  a  million  dollars  are  expended  annually 
by  the  farmers  of  that  small,  non-agricultural  state,  for  com- 
mercial fertilizers,  more  than  one-third  of  whichr  is  for 
nitrogen.  *  Why  this  waste  ?  The  market  gardener  must, 
Tper  force,  purchase  his  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  nitrates,  dried 
folopd,  or  in  some  other  condensed  shape,  because  he  cannot 
^wait  for  the  two  years  which  the  clover  plant  requires  for  its 
perfection.  He  must  have  immediate  results.  Nor  can  he 
tolerate  any  vegetable  matter  in  the  soil  not  thoroughly 

U44) 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  145 

decomposed.     He  can  use  nothing  that  will  interfere  with  the 
cultivation  of  the  smallest  and  most  delicate  plant.       It  is> 
different,  however,  with  the  farmer.       He  can  employ  a  rota- 
tion in  which  the  clovers  of  some  kind  form  a  prominent  part, 
that  will  supply  him  with  available  forage,  and  also  diversify 
his  crop,  while  storing  his  soil  with  the  fertility  needed  ina 
the   future.       Two  years  ago  one  of  the  ablest  scientists  inn 
Europe  said  to  a  convention  of  Scottish  farmers,  in  substance, 
that  it  was  folly  for  them  to   invest  pounds,    shillings  and  ' 
pence  in  nitrogen  where  they  could  grow  clover  and  other 
legumes.     In  view  of  the  recent  discoveries  to  which  we  have 
alluded  in  the  previous  chapter,  it  is  high  time  for  some  one,, 
in  whose  judgment  they  have  confidence,  to  tell  the  eastern  , 
farmers  the  same   truth.       If,  for   any  reason,    the   clovers 
cannot  be  grown,  other  legumes,  such  as  beans  and  peas,  can. 
A  soil  is  poor  indeed  that  will  not  grow  beans,  and  the  fact 
that  a  comparatively  barren  soil  will  grow  paying  crops  of  a 
food  rich  in  nitrogen,  itself  should  suggest  to  the  practical 
farmer  that  when  the  scientists  affirm  that  beans,  so  rich  in 
nitrogen,  are  largely  independent  of  the  soil  for  their  supply,  , 
they  are  but  confirming  the  experience  of  his  life-time.      In  i 
fact,  the  most  that  scientific  investigation  has  done  in  recent: 
years  is  to  explain  the  paradox  of  twenty  centuries,  viz  :  That 
the   clovers   and   other    legumes,    while   furnishing  a  large 
supply  of  nitrogenous  food,  at  the  same  time  actually  increase 
the  supply  of  available  nitrogen  in   the  soil.       When   stated/ 
as  a  distinct  and  separate  proposition,   it  seems  incredible^ 
When  offered  as  the  rational  explanation  of  an  agricultural 
paradox,  it  solves  a  mystery  that  has  puzzled  the  student  of 
agricultural  science  for  centuries.      The  eastern  farmer  who  . 
has  spent  large  sums  annually   for  nitrogen  in  the  form  of 
commercial    fertilizers,    cannot    do  a  wiser    thing    than  to 
investigate  this  subject  and  learn  how  he  cannot  only  reduce^ 
the  expense  of  cultivating  his  land,  but   successfully  under- 
take to  restore  abandoned  lands  without  beggaring  himself  tc 
purchase    nitrogen.       Clover    culture,    however,   means  far, 
more  to  the  western  farmer  than  it  does  to  his  co-laborer  ina 
the  Atlantic  and  Middle  states.       He  has  at  least  two  great 
and  distinct  advantages,  his  soils  are  not  made  up  from  the  • 
decomposition  of  the  rocks  of  the  immediate  locality.       In: 
many    districts  in  the  eastern   states    the  soil  is  deposited. 
in  situ ;  that  is,  it  has  been  formed  by  the  decomposition  of: 
the  rocks  lying  immediately  over  or  under  it.       Some  of  these 
may  be  rich  in  potash  and  poor  in  phosphoric  acid,  and  others 
rich  in  the  latter  but  poor  in    potash.        The    sub-soils  of  > 
large  portions  of  the  western  states  are  the  result  of  glacial 


146  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

action,  and  are  covered  by  the  great  northern  drift  in  which 
the  elements  derived  originally  from  the  primary  rocks  are  so 
thoroughly  commingled  that  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  soil  desti- 
tute of  the  two  great  inorganic  elements  of  fertility,  potash 
and  phosphoric  acid.  Hence,  the  important  question  with 
him  is  how  to  obtain  a  supply  of  nitrog-en  commensurate  with 
the  supply  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  in  the  soil.  He 
has  another  very  great  advantage.  His  soils  are  not,  except 
in  rare  cases,  so  far  exhausted  by  long  cultivation  of  their 
potash  and  phosporic  acid  that  they  refuse  to  grow  the 
clovers.  They  are  not,  therefore,  said  to  be  "clover  sick." 
He  can  proceed  to  draw  on  them  at  once  to  the  limit  of  their 
supply  in  nitrogen,  because  he  can  count  with  confidence  on 
;an  abundance  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  which  are  so 
essential  to  the  growth  of  clover.  He  has  still  a  third 
advantage,  viz :  That  while  many  eastern  soils  heave  out 
the  clover  during  the  late  winter  and  spring  months  by  purely 
mechanical  action,  his  soil,  when  properly  drained,  holds  the 
clover  plant  during  the  entire  period  of  its  natural  life. 

If,  however,  he  postpones  the  use  of  clover  and  other 
legumes  until  his  soil  is  exhausted  of  its  natural  supply  of 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid  by  continuous  cropping  with  the 
cereals  and  grasses  that  are  wholly  dependent  upon  soil  nitro- 
gen, his  condition  will  be  practically  hopeless.  He  cannot 
purchase  commercial  fertilizers  of  any  kind  at  present  prices 
at  the  sea-board,  paying  in  addition  freights  and  profits,  and 
then  pay  freights  and  profits  on  his  products  back  to  the 
principal  markets.  When  this  exhaustion  has  taken  place  it 
is  too  late  to  grow  the  legumes,  for  these  are  as  dependent  on 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid  as  are  the  cereals  on  nitrogen. 
When  his  soil  is  thus  reduced  to  the  condition  of  some  of  the 
soils  of  the  eastern  states,  he  may  as  well  give  up  the 
struggle. 

The  fact,  attested  by  the  experience  of  clover  growers  in 
many  thousands  of  cases,  that  a  good  crop  of  clover  roots 
adds  to  the  ordinary  crop  from  fifteen  to  thirty  bushels  of 
corn  per  acre  the  first  year,  and  almost  an  equal  amount  the 
second,  and  to  all  other  crops  in  a  corresponding  proportion, 
should  teach  the  western  farmer  that  his  soil  needs  mainly 
nitrogen,  or,  rather,  that  his  soil  is  more  deficient  in  nitrogen 
than  in  either  potash  or  phosphoric  acid.  The  best  way 
agricultural  chemists  have  found  of  analyzing  a  soil  is  to 
interrogate  it  with  various  commercial  fertilizers,  and  find 
from  the  varying  yield,  what  great  element  of  fertility  is 
lacking.  The  farmer  interrogates  his  separate  fields  in  the 
same  way,  when,  side  by  side  with  a  crop  grown  on  clover 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  147 

roots,  he  plants  corn,  wheat  or  flax  on  a  similar  soil  that  has 
been  cultivated  some  years  and  gives  both  plots  the  same 
culture  and  care.  The  almost  uniform  answer  of  the  soil  in 
such  cases  is,  "I  am  hungry  for  nitrogen."  If,  however,  he 
will  by  the  culture  of  clover  and  other  legumes,  fill  his  soil 
with  nitrogen  and  conserve  the  potash  and  phosphoric  acid 
by  carefully  husbanding  the  manure  made  on  the  farm,  he 
can  maintain  for  an  indefinite  period  the  fertility  of  his  farm 
and  be  in  a  position  to  meet  successfully  the  inevitable  compe- 
tition, whether  from  his  neighbors,  his  own  countrymen  or 
the  grain  growers  of  the  civilized  world.  The  nation  that 
can  grow  the  great  cereal  products  and  transport  them  to  the 
world's  markets  at  the  smallest  cost  will  eventually  dictate  the 
price  of  bread. 

It  is  supreme  folly  for  any  man  or  any  class  of  men  to  say 
that  his  lands  are  inexhaustible.  Many  times  in  the  history  of 
agriculture  has  that  claim  been  made,  and  as  often  have  those 
wh'o  have  made  it  been  brought  to  confusion  by  the  dire 
event.  All  that  is  needed  to  exhaust  the  fertility  of  any  soil 
for  any  cereal  crop  is  to  keep  on  growing  that  crop  year  after 
year.  It  is  quite  true,  as  has  been  affirmed  by  Sir  John  B. 
Lawes  and  other  thoroughly  scientific  investigators,  that  it 
is  not  possible  to  exhaust  completely  the  capacity  of  any  land 
for  the  production  of  any  one  crop  provided  the  soil  is  good 
to  begin  with.  Nature  loves  fertility  and  hoards  it  as  a  miser 
does  his  gold.  She  parts  with  it  slowly  and  reluctantly, 
and  as  soon  as 'she  has  allowed  man  to  exhaust  it  to  the 
point  where  he  cannot  grow  paying  crops  in  competition  with 
better  soils,  and  has  thus  driven  him  from  his  land,  she  at 
once  begins  the  work  of  soil  restoration. 

The  strict  and  accurate  truth  is  that  any  soil  may  by  con- 
tinuous, cultivation  in  the  cereals  be  so  far  exhausted  of  its 
nitrogen  or  other  elements  of  soil  fertility,  that  the  crops 
grown  on  it  are  no  longer  profitable.  When  it  reaches  this 
point  of  exhaustion  and  the  farmer  can  no  longer  make  a  liv- 
ing on  his  farm,  it  is  for  him  practically  exhausted.  What 
we  mean,  therefore,  by  soil  exhaustion  is  not  the  complete 
removal  of  one  or  all  of  the  great  elements  of  fertility,  but 
the  reduction  I  of  any  one  of  them  to  a  point  where  the  soil 
will  not  produce  paying  crops.  Sir  John  B.  Lawes  has  for 
nearly  forty  years  grown  continuous  crops  of  wheat  on  the 
same  land  without  manure,  equal,  even  in  late  years,  to  the 
average  crop  of  the  wheat-growing  world,  but  it  has  been 
done,  by  a  system  of  thorough  tillage,  hand-hoeing  and  weed- 
ing, which  if  done  on  a  commercial  basis  would  reduce  the 
owner  to  beggary. 


148  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

We  desire  to  reiterate  what  has  been  said  in  preceding 
chapters,  that  the  most  complete  exhaustion  of  the  soil,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  seem,  majr  be  accomplished  by  the  use  of  the 
clovers.  If  by  supplying-  nitrogen  in  the  clovers  and  continu- 
ally drawing  on  the  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  which  the 
clovers  do  so  largely,  the  farmer  practically  exhausts  the  land 
of  these,  he  must  then  either  resort  to  expensive  commercial 
fertilizers  or  throw  his  land  into  the  hands  of  mother  Nature 
to  nurse  it  back  through  long  years,  or  it  may  be  centuries, 
to  the  condition  to  which  as  a  foolish  and  unskillful  cultivatoi 
he  has  found  it  a  fit  subject  for  his  robberies. 

The  Western  farmer  has  now  reached  a  point  where, 
willing  or  not,  he  must  elect  to  do  one  of  three  things :  1. 
Continue  his  present  robbery  of  the  soil  by  continuous  grow- 
ing of  grain  for  sale  in  the  world's  markets  and  thus  selling 
his  land  by  piece-meal.  2.  He  may  by  supplying  nitrogen  in 
the  clovers  and  returning  nothing  in  the  form  of  manure  rob 
it  more  completely  and  reduce  it  to  a  more  hopeless  barren- 
ness. 3.  He  may  draw  on  the  winds  of  heaven  by  means  of 
the  miracle-working  tubercle  in  the  roots  of  the  clovers,  and 
then  by  the  judicious  use  of  the  manure  made  on  the  farm  in 
various  ways  restore  the  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  trusting 
to  the  gradual  disintegration  of  the  rocks  of  which  the  soil  is 
composed  to  keep  up  indefinitely  their  supply. 

The  folly  of  the  first  course  is  as  supreme  as  it  is  con- 
spicuous. The  farms  all  over  the  West  that  have  been  rented 
on  one-year  leases  to  croppers  attest  that  folly  so  completely 
that  he  4 'may  run  that  readeth  it,"  and  "the  way-faring  man, 
though  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein."  Heretofore  millions  oi 
the  best  acres  in  the  West  have  been  cultivated  by  farmers 
who  confessed  themselves  pilgrims  and  strangers,  and  like 
Abraham  of  old,  though  in  a  far  different  sense,  said  they 
were  seeking  a  better  country  and  would  find  it  as  soon  as 
they  had,  to  use  their  own  expression,  "skinned"  or  "taken 
off  the  cream"  from  the  lands  they  occupied.  These  are  the 
soil  robbers  who  plant  neither  orchards  nor  groves,  around 
whose  homes  are  no  flowers,  on  whose  porches  are  no  vines 
to  shade  their  wives  from  the  summer's  sun,  and  who  expect 
as  soon  as  their  robberies  are  completed  to  find  in  the  farthei 
West  another  piece  of  virgin  land  to  despoil.  It  is  time  foi 
this  class  of  farmers  to  understand  that  the  limit  of  the  corn 
lands  of  America  has  been  definitely  marked  out,  as  fixed  by 
their  Creator;  that  these  lands  are  all  out  of  the  possession. oi 
the  Government  and  are  nearly  all  in  cultivation,  and  thai 
while  there  is  a  large  amount  of  wheat  lands  as  yet  untouched 
by  the  plow,  they  are  in  capricious  and  uncertain  climates, 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  149 

subject  to  the  vicissitudes  of  doubtful  rainfall,  hot  winds  and 
destroying-  insects,  or  else  yield  up  their  natural  fertility  only 
by  irrigation.  Capitalists  can  no  longer  buy  the  finest  lands 
in  townships  and  counties,  rob  them  of  their  fertility  by  con- 
tinuous wheat  growing-  on  the  bonanza  plan,  and  find  in  the 
newer  West  fresh  lands  to  impoverish.  The  migration  of 
these  bonanza  farmers  westward  must  now  cease.  A  farmer 
who  wishes  a  permanent  home  for  himself  and  a  heritage  for 
his  children  must  buy  it  soon.  The  tabernacle  of  the  wilder- 
ness must  give  place  to  the  permanent  structure  in  a  land  not 
divided  by  lot  but  selected  by  purchase.  The  soil  robber  must 
henceforth  be  content  with  robbing  himself  and  wasting  in 
advance  the  patrimony  of  his  children. 

If,  however,  he  makes  the  second  election  and  sees  in  the 
recent  discoveries  of  agricultural  science  an  opportunity  by 
clover  culture  to  rob  his  lands  more  completely  than  before, 
by  selling  in  a  distant  market  the  elements  of  fertility  in  his 
land,  he  should  know  that  in  this  way  he  will  reduce  his  land 
to  a  degree  of  barrenness  impossible  under  former  conditions. 
He  may  by  clover  culture  become  thus  penny  wise  and  pound 
foolish.  He  may  adopt  the  specious  though  fallacious  maxim 
that  "tillage  is  manure,"  without  stopping  to  think  that  im- 
proved tillage  by  increasing  the  yield  will  only<rthe  more 
speedily  exhaust,  by  the  magnitude  of  the  crops  which  it  fur- 
nishes, the  fertility  of  the  land.  He  may  draw  upon  the  gteat 
bank,  the  atmosphere,  for  his  supply  of  nitrogen,  and  if  his 
drafts  be  properly  drawn,  signed  and  sealed  by  the  clover-root 
tubercle,  they  will  not  go  to  protest,  but  when  he  draws  upon 
the  soil  for  potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  he  will  get  the  quick 
response,  "Protested — no  funds."  Every  farmer  owes  it  to 
those  who  are  to  bear  his  name,  to  leave  the  acres  that  have 
fed  him,  richer  if  possible  than  he  received  them  from  the 
hand  of  Nature  or  a  previous  purchaser,  or  if  he  fails  to  do  so, 
he  cannot  with  truth  have  the  honorable  title  of  "a  good 
farmer"  engraved  on  the  marble  that  is  intended  to  perpetuate 
his  memory. 

The  only  wise  choice  is  the  third  one  above  mentioned, 
viz,,  to  grow  clover,  feed  stock,  husband  carefully  the  farm- 
yard manure  and  restore  it  to  the  land  without  waste.  He 
must  necessarily  dispose  by  the  sale  of  his  live  stock  and  grain 
of  more  or  less  of  the  great  elements  of  fertility.  c  Nature, 
however,  is  ever  struggling  to  maintain  it  by  the  gradual 
decomposition  of  rock  material  of  which  the  soil  was  first 
formed,  and  if  he  works  with  her  he  will  be  entitled  to  a 
well  earned  reputation  for  agricultural  wisdom.  If  better 
methods  of  tillage  hasten  the  decomposition  of  the  primary 


150  CLOVKK  CULTURE. 

rock,  it  only  increases  his  supply  of  home-made  fertilizers  by 
the  careful  husbanding-  and  diligent  application  of  which  he 
is  ever  restoring-  to  the  land  its  own.  The  future  prosperity 
of  the  Western  farmer  depends,  more  than  on  anything-  else, 
on  whether  he  elects  the  part  of  wisdom,  and  the  prosperity  of 
any  section  or  of  any  community  depends  upon  the  number  of 
farmers  who  make  this  choice. 

It  cannot  have  escaped  the  attention  of  thoughtful  stu- 
dents of  agriculture  that  in  any  country  that  is  really  pros- 
perous for  any  great  length  of  time  the  farmers  have  settled 
down  to  a  system  of  mixed  grain  and  stock  growing  and  the 
cultivation  of  the  tame  grasses  that  are  so  essential  to  success 
in  this  line.  The  ranch  system  so  long  dependent  wholly  on 
the  wild  grasses  may  endure  for  a  time,  or  as  long  as  these 
grasses  are  abundant  and  free  to  all,  so  to  speak,  "without 
money  and  without  price,"  but  it  should  be  noted  that  even 
the  ranchman  is  turning  to  alfalfa.  Nor  should  it  escape  the 
notice  of  the  thoughtful  that  among  the  grasses  that  form 
these  cultivated  pastures  the  legumes  have  always  had  an 
important  place,  and  that  the  failure  of  clover  in  any  nation 
except  as  part  of  a  long  rotation  has  always  been  regarded  as 
a  great  calamity. 

Circumstances  will  compel  the  Western  farmer  to  adopt 
the  same  methods.  He  has,  however,  a  great  advantage  over 
all  the  farmers  that  were  before  him.  They  grew  the  clovers 
because  they  found  by  experience  that  they  increased  the  value 
of  all  subsequent  crops,  but  did  not  know  how  or  why.  Their 
farming  was  on  the  principle  of  "cut  and  try."  The  modern 
farmer  is  now  in  the  position  of  the  tailor  who  has  a  rule  by 
which  he  can  cut  and  be  reasonably  sure  of  a  fairly  good  fit. 
He  knows,  or  at  least  may  know,  that  by  the  use  of  clover  he 
can  store  up  nitrogen  in  his  soil  for  a  crop  of  wheat,  corn  or 
flax  following.  He  knows  what  plants  can  obtain  nitrogen 
from  the  atmosphere  and  what  can  not,  why  timothy  always 
does  well  after  clover,  why  blue  grass  flourishes  with  white 
clover  as  a  growing  mate,  and  can  thus  plan  his  rotations  and 
his  seed  mixtures  with  intelligent  foresight,  as  a  painter 
mixes  his  paints  and  plans  his  work,  knowing  beforehand 
very  nearly  what  will  be  the  result.  fl> 

The  Western  farmer  has  been  placed  for  many  years  in  a 
peculiarly  trying  position,  and  that  largely  through  no  fault 
of  his  own.  *  In  the  last  thirty  years  a  vast  empire  has  been 
opened  up  west  of  the  Missouri.  Its  fabulous  wealth  has 
been  advertised  over  Europe  and  America  by  railroads  inter- 
ested in  its  settlement.  Population  has  rushed  in,  fully  im- 
bued with  the  idea  that  unlimited  acres  of  inexhaustible 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  151 

fertility  were  to  be  had  for  a  song-.  Payments  for  the  landr 
for  the  improvements  and  for  living-  expenses  had  to  be  made 
from  crops  of  ready  sale  at  cash  prices  in  the  world's  markets. 
These  bulky  products  had  to  be  hauled  from  five  hundred  to 
seven  hundred  miles  to  the  nearest  water  line  and  from  a 
thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  miles  to  the  seaboard,  and  that, 
too,  as  soon  as  gathered.  Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the 
pioneer  farmer  as  a  rule  has  not  been  able  to  build  granaries 
to  store  the  products  of  his  land.  The  result  has  been  two- 
fold— exclusive  grain  farming-  in  necessary  violation  of  the 
well  established  principles  of  successful  agriculture  the  world 
over,  and  the  g-lutting-  of  the  markets  of  the  world  with  cereals- 
to  an  extent  that  has  produced  acute  and  severe  distress 
among-  grain  farmers  everywhere.  A  cry  of  distress,  both  in 
years  of  shortage  and  abundance,  has  been  heard  in  every 
part  of  the  United  States  in  which  the  improved  grasses  have 
not  been  contiguous  to  the  grain  and  cotton  field.  Mean- 
while the  American  farmer,  by  reason  of  his  fertile  soil,  im- 
proved machinery  and  skilled  agricultural  labor,  is  crowding 
the  British,  the  Russian  and  the  Hindoo  farmer  to  the  wall, 
and  while  suffering  himself,  is  inflicting  more  severe  suffering 
on  farmers  in  other  parts  of  the  world  under  less  favorable 
conditions. 

We  have  outlined  these  existing  conditions,  not  to  make 
the  broad  claim  that  clover  culture  is  the  panacea  for  all  the 
ills  to  which  agricultural  flesh  is  heir,  but  to  show  that  the 
evils  of  a  false  system  can  be  remedied  only  by  a  return  to  a 
correct  one,  and  this  cannot  be  done  successfully  without  the 
introduction  of  the  legumes,  and  especially  of  the  clovers. 
What  the  American  farmer  needs  at  present  is  something 
that  will  enable  him  to  maintain  cheaply  the  fertility  of  his 
soil,  especially  in  nitrogen,  the  most  costly  and  at  the  same 
time  the  least  stable,  of  all  the  elements  of  fertility  in  all 
soils.  The  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  will  remain  locked  up 
in  various  soil  compounds  until  it  is  needed  by  the  plant,  but 
the  nitrogenous  compounds,  as  soon  as  converted  into  nitrates, 
the  form  in  which  they  are  assimilated  by  plants,  are  liable 
to  be  washed  out  by  rains.  He  needs  a  system  of  farming 
which  will  enable  him  to  condense  his  freights  by  feeding  his 
products  on  the  farm,  and  shipping  them  in  the  form  of  live 
stock,  butter,  cheese  and  wool,  and  he  needs  besides  a  home- 
grown forage^  rich  in  nitrogen  or  albuminoids  that'  will 
enable  him  to  use  to  the  best  advantage  the  carbonaceous 
food  products  which  exist  in  such  super-abundance  in  the 
West.  In,  this  lies  the  '  *  way  out "  for  the  western  farmer. 
We  do  not  by  any  means  affirm  that  he  is  not  suffering  from 


152  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

other  evils.  We  know,  for  example,  that  he  pays  more  than 
his  proper  share  of  taxes ;  that  he  is  the  victim  of  trusts  and 
combines,  and  that  in  many  localities  he  is  compelled  to  pay 
exorbitant  freights  and  excessive  rates  of  interest.  We  do 
mean  to  say,  however,  that  where  a  system  of  agriculture  has 
been  adopted  for  any  great  length  of  time,  these  evils  diminish 
in  their  intensity  or  disappear  altogether.  In  fact,  it  is  the 
one-sided  system  of  agriculture  adopted  in  many  parts  of  the 
West  that  has  rendered  it  possible  to  form  some  combinations 
and  extort  usurious  rates  of  interest.  In  this  correct  system 
of  agriculture  wherever  established,  the  tame  grasses  must 
form  an  essential  and  indispensible  part,  and  chief  among 
these  grasses  will  always  be  found  the  legumes,  and  especially 
the  clovers. 

The  "way  out,"  if  it  be  a  main  travelled  road  leading  to 
the  city  of  refuge  and  not  a  by-path  leading  into  the  forest  or 
a  morass,  must  provide  for  retaining  soil  fertility  and 
especially  nitrogen.  As  we  have  before  shown,  there  is  no 
present  way  by  which  that  can  be  done  effectively  and  at  the 
same  time  economically  except  by  the  intelligent  use  of  the 
legumes.  Theorists  may  speculate  as  they  please,  but  when 
the  available  fertility  of  any  soil,  whether  of  the  farm  or  the 
district,  is  so  far  exhausted  that  it  will  not  produce  paying 
crops,  as  it  will  be  in  time  by  continuous  cultivation  of  the 
non-leguminous  plants,  it  matters  very  little  what  political 
party  is  in  power,  or  what  the  rate  of  taxation  or  transpor- 
tation, or  what  kind  of  currency  may  be  in  use.  The  "  way 
out "  for  the  western  farmer  that  does  not  provide  for  the 
conservation  of  nitrogen  and  its  increase,  at  least  to  the 
measure  of  the  supply  of  the  other  elements  of  the  fertility  in 
the  soil,  will  lead  him  into  worse  trouble  than  he  complains 
of  now.  It  is  for  the  reason  that  it  furnishes  the  farmer 
with  clear,  definite  and  precise  information  on  a  matter  of  the 
first  importance  that  we  regard  the  discoveries  of  Helreigel, 
Wilfarth  and  Atwater  as  among  the  greatest  of  the  present 
age.  If  this  important  element  of  fertility  cannot,  by  reason 
of  deficient  rainfall  or  some  other  climatic  or  soil  conditions, 
be  furnished  by  the  red  and  mammoth  clovers,  then  resort 
must  be  had  to  alfalfa,  and  where  this  cannot  be  grown,  the 
supply  of  nitrogen  must  be  secured  by  the  use  of  some  other 
legume.  The  "  way  out "  must  be  sown  with  legumes.  ^ 

It  is  not  enough,  however,  to  have  a  supply  of  fertility  in 
the  soil.  There  must  be  some  way  of  using  to  advantage 
the  products  furnished  by  this  raw  material  provided  by 
nature  and  husbanded  by  man.  No  country  ever  became 
permanently  rich  which  was  burdened  with  the  trasportation 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  15S 

of  crude  products  to  a  consumer  from  a  thousand  to  five 
thousand  miles  distant.  It  matters  little  how  cheap  freight 
rates  may  be,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  competitors  are 
likely  to  have  them  as  cheap.  Freight  rates  by  rail  can  be 
reduced  about  as  much  in  one  part  of  the  world  as  in  the  other, 
for  the  reason  that  the  reduction  is  the  result  of  inventions  in 
which  the  whole  world  shares.  Water  freights  are  prac- 
tically equal  with  each  other,  and,  hence,  it  is  not  the  cost  of 
freight,  but  the  fact  that  freight  must  be  paid,  and  that,  toor 
by  the  farmer,  that  makes  hard  times  in  any  country  that 
must  find  a  customer  for  its  bulky  or  heavy  products  in  a  far- 
distant  market.  The  "  way  out  "  must,  therefore,  suggest  a 
method  by  which  the  farmer  can  convert  these  bulky  products 
into  some  more  compact  and  available  form.  The  introduc- 
tion of  the  clovers  and  other  cultivated  grasses  at  once  reduces 
the  acreage  of  the  cereals  and  paves  the  way  for  successful 
stock  growing,  which,  in  turn,  furnishes  a  means  for  con- 
densing freights. 

It  requires  no  prophet  to  forsee  what  would  be  the  imme- 
diate result  if  half  the  lands  now  in  cereals  in  Kansas, 
Nebraska  and  southern  Dakota  were  successfully  sown  to 
clovers  next  year.  There  would  be  an  immediate,  though 
temporary  reduction  in  the  yield  of  cereals  which  would  at 
once  be  felt  in  prices,  demand  for  improved  stock  to  suit  the 
improved  conditions,  and  a  decrease  in  the  amount  of  freights 
furnished  the  railroads.  It  is  quite  true  that  a  large  amount 
of  the  corn  grown  in  these  states  is  condensed  by  feeding  to 
stock  brought  in  from  the  ranges.  This  system,  however 
convenient  or  profitable  it  may  be  for  the  time,  leads  surely 
and  speedily  to  the  soil  exhaustion  of  these  states.  The 
feeding  is  done  on  comparatively  few  farms  and  by  men  who 
are  feeders  rather  than  farmers,  and  thus  a  few  acres  are 
enriched  at  the  expense  of.  the  many.  When  farmers  in  these 
states  adopt  the  method  of  farming  half  the  land  and  seeding 
the  remainder  to  tame  grasses,  where  these  can  be  grown, 
they  will  be  able  not  only  to  maintain  the  fertility  of  their 
soil,  but  place  themselves  in  the  position  which  farmers  the 
world  over  occupy,  wherever  agriculture  is  permanently  pros- 
perous. 

Nor  are  we  advocating  any  new  or  untried  policy.  Corn 
is  grown  in  nearly  every  state  in  the  Union,  and  yet  there  are 
but  seven  corn  surplus  states,  or  states  that  grow  an  amount 
beyond  their  home  requirements,  and  the  surplus  pro- 
duced by  two  of  these  is  comparatively  small.  This  policy 
has  been  largely  adopted  in  all  the  states  east  of  the  Missouri. 
As  the  gfrasses  and  leerumes  travel  westward,  elevator 


154  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

properties  on  the  lines  of  the  railroads  leading-  to  the  great 
grain  markets  first  decrease  in  value,  then  stand  empty  and 
finally  are  burned  up  or  torn  down. 

The  progress  of  clover  and  grass  culture  may  be  noted 
•even  in  the  political  discussions,  and  especially  those  that 
grow  out  of  agricultural  discontent.  These  discussions  move 
west-Avith  the  tame  grasses.  The  granger  legislation  of  1873 
affected  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  while  that 
of  1889  affected  only,  to  any  great  extent,  the  states  west  of 
the  Missouri  and  south  of  the  Ohio  rivers,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  grain  and  cotton  growing  as  distinguised  from  the  grass 
growing  states.  No  less  significant  is  the  fact  that  the 
so-called  granger  legislation  of  Iowa  in  1884-88  had  for  its 
object,  not  the  cheapening  of  rates  on  crude  products,  but  the 
cheaper  distribution  of  its  own  products  within  that  state. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  culture  of  the  clovers  and  other 
grasses  is  far  reaching  in  its  consequences.  In  urging  it  as 
we  do,  we  are  on  main  traveled  roads.  We  point  to  the  expe- 
rience of  all  farmers  in  all  countries  for  the  last  hundred 
years ;  we  point  to  the  fact  that  where  once  introduced  it  has 
never  been  abandoned,  until  the  soil  refused  to  grow  clover ; 
we  point  to  the  fact  that  where  it  is  once  established,  land  uni- 
formly advances  in  price,  and  the  rate  of  interest  as  uniformly 
falls ;  we  point  to  the  fact  that  where  it  is  once  established 
diversification  of  industry  naturally  follows.  For  example, 
the  great  dairy  interest  is  confined  almost  wholly  to  the  regions 
where  the  clovers  and  other  tame  grasses  have  proved  a  suc- 
cess. Creameries  have  been  built  by  the  score  in  advance  of 
the  grass  and  clovers,  and  only  in  rare  instances  have  they 
succeeded  beyond  the  white,  red  and  crimson  of  the  clover 
fields.  While  it  is  true  that  there  is  a  natural  limit  to  the 
tame  grass  belt,  it  is  also  true,  and  we  call  attention  to  the 
well  known  fact,  that  the  clovers  have  a  wider  Western  range 
than  any  of  the  other  cultivated  grasses,  and,  as  we  have 
already  shown,  where  clover  ends,  alfalfa  begins.  Where,  by 
reason  of  the  unsuitable  subsoil,  it  is  impossible  to  grow 
alfalfa,  other  legumes,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  soyv  bean, 
will  be  found  to  take  its  place.  The  necessity  of  the  intro- 
duction of  some  legume  that  will  supply  the  place  of  the 
clovers  and  alfalfa  in  semi-arid  regions  is  so  urgent,  or  will 
be  in  a  few  years,  that  every  clime  will  be  searched  by  enter- 
prising farmers  and  experiment  stations  to  find  something 
that  will  meet  the  want.  The  right  plant  will  be  found  when 
it  is  needed,  just  as  the  right  man  appears  in  every  great 
crisis  of  a  nation. 

Again,  any  "way  out,"  especially  for  the  Western  farmer, 


CLOVER  CULTURE.  15f 

must  provide  some  method  for  utilizing-  the  great  surplus  oi 
carbonaceous  food  products  that  exists  on  his  farm.  Western 
states  have  a  very  great  surplus  of  this  carbonaceous  food. 
Corn,  their  great  crop,  is  highly  carbonaceous,  and  straw, 
cornstalks  and  sorghum  still  more  so,  and  the  ordinary  tame 
grasses,  outside  of  the  clovers,  scarcely  less.  No  one  of  these,, 
nor  all  of  them  together,  can  be  fed  exclusively  totyoung  and 
growing  stock,  or  to  milk  cows,  without  great  waste  of  the 
food.  The  young  grasses  alone  furnish  a  balanced  ration,, 
but  only  for  a  brief  period  01  the  year. 

The  continuous  waste  that  goes  on  for  eight  months  in= 
the  year  becomes  so  enormous  that  no  section  can  compete 
with  other  sections  blessed  with  albuminoids  with  which  to- 
balance  up  rations.  Oats  is  about  the  only  stock  grain  that 
in  itself  comes  near  being  a  balanced  ration,  and  in  default  of 
the  legumes  farmers  are  compelled  to  use  oil  meal,  cotton-seed 
meal  and  wheat  bran  in  order  to  feed  their  carbonaceous 
rations  without  waste.  The  clovers  come  in  to  meet  the 
requirements  with  nitrogenous  compounds,  drawn  not  from 
the  soil  beneath,  but  from  the  air  above,  and  not  only  store 
nitrogen  in  the  soil  by  means  of  their  roots,  but  in  the  form 
of  hay  and  pasture  supply  this  much-needed  want.  Eastern 
farmers  who  travel  through  Western  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
and  Dakota  and  other  wheat-growing  sections  and  see  the 
great  mass  of  straw  given  to  the  flames  each  year  are  accus- 
tomed to  declaim  against  the  thriftlessness  of  the  Western 
farmer.  He  is  at  least  as  wise  as  they,  for  experience  has 
taught  him  that  cattle  will  eat  themselves  poor  by  trying  to 
live  on  this  carbonaceous  food,  and  that  for  him  its  main 
value  is  in  its  ash,  which  he  therefore  distributes  as  wisely  as- 
possible  by  heading  his  wheat  and  burning  his  straw.  If, 
however,  he  can  grow  clover  or  alfalfa  to  balance  up  this 
excessively  carbonaceous  food,  the  straw  becomes  at  once  a 
mine  of  wealth. 

English  wheat  growers  are  this  year,  in  many  cases,  get- 
ting more  for  their  straw  per  acre  than  for  their  wheat,  for 
the  reason  that  they  can  use  it  economically  and  without  com- 
petition, whereas  in  the  growth  of  grain  they  are  compelled 
to  compete  with  the  whole  world. 

In  the  arid  regions  of  the  plains,  the  mountains  or  the 
Pacific  coast,  the  word  alfalfa  has  a  charm  second  only  to 
gold  and  silver,  because  it  furnishes  in  the  form  of  hay  a 
ration  that  improves  or  balances  up  every  other  forage  with 
which  it  is  fed.  As  the  subject  of  feeding  rations  becomes 
better  understood  through  the  greater  number  of  analyses  oi 
western  grains  and  grasses  and  carefully  conducted  experi- 


156  ,  CLOVER  CULTURE. 

ments  with  balanced  rations,  the  legumes  will  be  rated  at  a 
much  higher  value  than  they  have  been  in  times  past.  Stock 
.growers  will  even  find  that  it  will  pay  them  to  grow  the 
legumes  solely  as  a  means  of  stopping  the  great  waste  that  is 
now  going  on  by  the  enforced  use  of  rations  too  highly  carbo- 
naceous to  meet  the  wants  of  the  animal  economy. 

A  system  of  farming  that  will  at  once  conserve  and 
increase  the  fertility  of  the  soils  of  the  West,  that  will,  by 
diminishing  the  amount  of  the  acreage  in  cereals  and  increas- 
ing that  of  the  grasses,  reduce  the  cost  of  labor  fifty  per  cent., 
and  that  will  stop  the  waste  of  foods  now  going  on,  will  at 
least  indicate  the  "way  out"  that  can  be  followed  with  safety 
and  profit.  The  extended  use  of  the  clovers  and  other  legumes 
will  provide  such  a  system,  and  for  this  reason  we  urge  it 
upon  the  attention  of  every  farmer.  Other  nations  and  the 
^majority  of  our  states  have  already  adopted  such  systems, 
ignorant  of  the  recent  discoveries  that  have  made  the  way 
plain,  safe  and  easy.  It  devolves  upon  the  Western  farmer 
~to  say  whether  he  will  be  guided  at  once  by  the  experience  of 
practical  farmers  in  the  past  and  by  the  light  that  science  has 
shed  upon  the  subject,  or  whether  he  will  continue  to  waste 
the  fertility  of  the  richest  heritage  that  Providence  has  ever 
bestowed  upon  a  people,  and  reduce  to  comparative  barren- 
ness the  fairest  land  on  which  the  sun  shines. 


FINIS. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAW. 

PREFACE 3 

CHAPTER  I. 

Clovers  and  Other  Grasses— Clovers  not  True  Grasses,  but  Members  of  the  Pulse  Fam- 
ily—True Grasses  Denned— Difference  between  Them  and  the  Clovers  in  Root 
Growth— Relation  of  the  Clovers  to  Soil  Fertility— Their  Relation  to  Improved 
Agriculture— Their  Power  to  Supply  Other  Crops  with  Nitrogen— Their  Ability  to 
Draw  Nitrogen  from  the  Atmosphere— Their  Importance  in  Feeding  Rations T 

CHAPTER  II. 

Distribution  of  the  Clovers— The  Economic  Importance  of  the  Legumes— The  Main 
Source  of  Supply  of  Soil  Nitrogen— Animal  Nitrogen  Dependent  on  Soil  Nitrogen 
—Some  Variety  of  the  Legumes  Adapted  to  Every  Soil  Capable  of  Supporting 
Life— Leading  Varieties  of  Clover— Range  of  the  Common  Red  and  Mammoth— 
Their  Peculiar  Adaptation  to  the  Drift  Soils  of  the  West— Their  Probable  Western 
Limit— R  ange  of  the  White,  Alsike  and  Crimson  Clovers  and  Alfalfa 16- 

CHAPTER  III. 

Red  and  Mammoth  Clovers— Their  Relation  to  Soil  Fertility  in  the  West— Their  His- 
tory—The Five  Essentials  of  Plant  Life— These  Clovers  Do  Well  on  Compara- 
tively Barren  Soils— Reproduce  Themselves  Indefinitely  in  the  West  by  Self- 
Seeding—Best  Methods  of  Seeding  in  Fall  and  Spring— Depth  of  Covering  Re- 
quired—Experiment at  the  Iowa  Experiment  Station— Modern  Methods  of  Cov- 
ering in  the  Western  States— Conditions  under  Which  One  or  the  Other  Should 
Be  Preferred— Mammoth  Preferred  Where  Insect  Enemies  Are  Abundant— Illus- 
trations of  Red  and  Mammoth  Clovers 2S>- 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Alfalfa— Its  Climatic  Range,  History  and  Travels— Its  Different  Names  in  Different 
Countries— Its  Specific  Purpose  a  Meadow  and  a  Forage  Plant— Its  Adaptation  to 
Particular  Soils— Its  Two  Leading  Uses— Its  Peculiar  Adaptation  to  the  Mountains 
and  Plains— Its  Use  in  the  Semi-Arid  Regions  as  a  Substitute  for  Clover  as  Dis- 
cussed by  Prof.  Georgeson— Prof.  C.  L.  Ingersoll  on  Alfalfa  under  Irrigation 4* 

CHAPTER  V. 

White  and  Alsike  Clover— Difference  between  White  and  Other  Clovers— Its  History- 
Its  Place  in  the  Permanent  Pasture— Its  Faults— History  of  Alsike  or  Swedish 
Clover— Its  Peculiar  Adaptation  to  Wet  Lands— Best  Methods  of  Sowing— Its 
Value  as  a  Honey  Plant 53 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Minor  Var'eties  of  Clovers— Sweet  Clover,  Where  Valuable— Scarlet  or  Crimson  Clo- 
ver—Its Climatic  Range  and  Value— Climatic  Range  of  Japan  Clover  and  Its 
Great  Value  to  the  Southern  Farmer— Value  of  the  Bur  Clover  to  the  California 
Farmer— Description  of  Various  Native  Varieties,  with  Illustrations 68 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 

CHAPTEK  VII. 

Practical  Clover  Growing— Selection  of  Varieties  for  Different  Localities— The  Ob- 
ject in  View  in  Growing  Clovers— Mixtures  With  Other  Grasses— Mixtures  for 
Different  notations— Clover  Sickness— Nurse  Crops— Western  Limit  of  the  Clovers 
—Method  of  Seeding  on  Wet  Lands 78 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Curing  Clover  Hay— Water  Content  of  Green  Clover— Iowa  Agricultural  College  Ex- 
periments—The Problem  Stated— Clover  Hay-making  East  and  West— Capacity 
of  Clover  to  Evaporate  and  Absorb  Moisture— Most  Approved  Western  Methods 
—Damage  to  Clover  Hay  in  Stack— Value  of  the  Tedder— Numerous  Examples  of 
Spontaneous  Combustion— Views  of  Profs.  Sanborn  and  Burrell 90 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Clovers  in  the  Rotation— Importance  of  Rotations— Distinct  Features— Clovers  as 
a  Cleaning  Crop— Their  Value  in  Supplying  Nitrogen— Rotations  suggested  for 
different  sections 97 

CHAPTER  X. 

Clover  in  Feeding  Rations— Elementary  Principles— Necessity  for  Balanced  Rations 
— Peculiar  Need  of  an  Albuminoid  Crop  in  the  West — Feeding  Tables — Analyses 
of  Non-leguminous  Grains  and  Grasses — Analyses  of  the  Legumes — Examples  of 
the  use  of  Clover  and  Clover  Hay  in  Balancing  Rations 106 

CHAPTER  XL 

fnsect  and  Other  Enemies— The  Clover  Leaf  Midge— The  Clover  Root  Borer— Flave- 
scent  Clover  Weevil— The  Clover  Stem  Borer— The  Clover  Leaf  Beetle— The 
Clover  Leaf  Hopper— The  Clover  Hay  Worm,  with  Illustrations— The  Clover 
Rust— The  Violet  Root  Fungus— Dodder,  with  Illustration 120 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Clover  Seed  and  its  Insect  Enemies— Necessary  Conditions  for  a  Crop  of  Clover  Seed 
— Prof.  L.  H.  Paromel  on  Pollination  of  Clover — Description  of  the  Red  Clover 
Blossom,  with  Illustration— Best  Method  of  Harvesting  Clover  Seed— Illustrations 
and  Description  of  Clover  Seed  Midge— Methods  of  Combatting  It— Its  parasites 
—Illustration  and  Description  of  Clover  Seed  Caterpillar— Remedies  Recom- 
mended   182 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

CJover  Root  Tubercle— Facts  Assumed  in  Previous  Chapters— Former  Suppositions 
as  to  how  Clover  Obtained  Nitrogen— Description  of  Clover  Root  Tubercles- 
Prof.  Hellriegel's  Experiments  and  Demonstration  of  two  Important  Facts— Illus- 
tration of  Tubercles  with  Description — Prof.  Atwatea's  Experiments  and  Con- 
clusion— Conciu°ion  of  Sir  J.  B.  Lawes — Practical  Bearings  of  the  Discovery  on 
Western  Agriculture 148 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Clover  Culture  the  Way  Out— Clover  Culture  a  Problem  of  the  First  Magnitude- 
Purchase  of  Nitrates  by  the  General  Farmer  Useless— A  Solution  of  the  Agricul- 
tural Paradox — Advantages  of  the  Western  Farmer  over  the  Eastern — Western 
Soils  may  be  Exhausted  as  well  as  Fertilized  by  Clover  Culture— When  Lands  are 
Practically  Exhausted— Western  Farmers  Must  Elect  to  do  One  of  Three  Things 
—The  only  Wise  Choice— Trying  Position  of  the  Western  Farmer— Clover  Cul- 
ture Indicates  the  Way  Out  by  Restoring  Fertility,  by  Condensing  Freights  and 
by  Checking  Waste  of  Carbonaceous  Feed — Effects  of  Clover  on  Legislation — On 
the  Dairy  Industry— Will  the  Western  Farmer  Adopt  It? 156 


INDEX. 


Alfalfa— Length  of  roots,  4;  its  distribu- 
tion, 14, 15;  origin  and  history,  30-41;  il- 
lustration of,  31;  peculiarly  a  hay  and 
forage  crop,  32;  conditions  under  which 
its  cultivation  is  profitable,  32,  33;  cul- 
tnre  under  irrigation,  33;  yield  of  hay 
per  acre,  33  34:  number  of  cuttings  per 
annum,  33,  34.  42:  amount  of  seed  sown 
per  acre,  34,  38,  42;  English  method  of 
culture,  34;  when  possible  in  rotation, 
35;  where  it  can  be  substituted  for  red 
clover,  35:  Prof.  Georgeson  on  its  culture 
without  irrigation,  36,  40;  as  a  pasture 
grass,  37;  seeding  of  on  prairie  grass,  37; 
cannot  be  grown  on  certain  soils,  37: 
preparation  of  seed  bed  without  irriga- 
tion, 37.  38;  method  of  curing,  38,  44: 
best  method  of  storing,  38;  when  seed 
should  be  taken,  38;  yield  of  seed  per 
acre,  38;  price  of  seed  per  bushel,  38;  nu- 
tritive value  compared  with  red  clover, 
39;  its  disadvantages,  39,40;  Prof.  Irger- 
soll  on,  41,  44;  preparation  of  seed  bed 
with  irrigation,  42;  method  of  irrigation, 
42,  43;  chemical  composition  of,  43; 
where  valuable  in  Nebraska,  44;  where  a 
substitute  for  other  clovers,  76,  77;  as  a 
balance  in  feeding  rations,  106;  for  young 
colts,  106;  balances  all  grain  rations,  155. 

Alsike— Its  distribution,  14;  origin  of,  49? 
specially  adapted  to  sloughs  and  other 
wet  lands,  49,  51,  77;  illustration  of,  50! 
habit  of  growth  as  compared  with  red, 
mammoth  and  white,  51,  52;  method  of 
seeding  on  sloughs  and  wet  lands  in 
grass,  52;  climatic  range  of,  52,  53;  value 
as  bee  pasture,  53;  in  permanent  pasture, 

Atwater,  Prof.  O.  W.— Investigations  in 
relation  to  the  tubercles  of  the  legumes, 
140. 

Blue  Grass— In  permanent  pasture,  74;  on 
wild  prairie,  75. 

Bumble  Bees— As  pollinators  of  red  clo- 
ver, 122,  125;  two  varieties  of,  123. 

Bur  Clover— Distribution  of,  11;  climatic 
range  of,  60;  value  as  sheep  pasture,  60; 
peculiar  relation  to  alfilaria,  60;  a  native 
variety  in  Nebraska,  60. 

Carbohydrates— Great  excess  of  in  West- 
ern states,  100;  proportion  of  proper  for 
various  uses,  101;  proportion  found  in 
non-leguminous  grains  and  fodders,  102; 
proportion  found  in  various  legumes,102. 

Carbon,  its  place  in  animal  economy,  9. 

Clover  Culture— Its  importance  to  the  in- 
dividual farmer  and  to  the  nation,  144; 
advantageous  to  farmers  both  East  and 


West,  145,  150;  its  effect  on  succeeding 
corn  crops,  146;  maintenance  of  indefi- 
nite fertility  possible  with,  147, 148, 149; 
may  itself  exhaust  soil?,  148,  149;  effect 
of  its  westward  extension,  153;  effect  on 
politic"1!  discussions.  154;  never  willing- 
ly abandoned  when  once  introduced,  154. 

Clover  Flower— Anatomy  of ,  122, 124;  illus- 
tration of,  124. 

Clover  Hay— Analyses  of,  79;  moisture  in, 
79,  80:  difference  in  curing,  East  and 
West,  80, 81 ;  differences  in  feeding  value, 
81 ;  its  capacity  to  absorb  and  evaporate 
moisture,  81, 82;  best  practical  method  of 
making,  83,  85;  Average  per  cent,  of  dam- 
age in  stack,  85;  spontaneous  combus- 
tion of,  85,  90. 

Clover  rust,  116. 

Clovers— Distinct  in  form  from  true  grass- 
es, 3;  general  habir  of  root  growth,  3,  4; 
their  peculiar  relation  to  soil  fertility,  4, 
5,  6;  effect  of  their  introduction  into 
England,  5;  p  helpmeet  to  the  true  grass- 
es, 5,  6;  distinct  from  true  grasses  in 
function,  6;  number  of  native  species, 
10;  why  they  succeed  on  poor  soils,  18; 
seeding  on  prairie  lands  without  cover- 
ing, 20;  circumstances  under  which  red 
or  mammoth  should  be  preferred,  24,  25, 
26;  red  and  mammoth,  scientific  classifi- 
cation of,  25;  selection  of  variety  de- 
pends upon  object  in  view,  69, 70;  mix- 
tures to  be  sown,  70,  75;  mixtures  to  be 
avoided,  70,71;  mixture  for  two  years' 
rotation,  72;  how  retained  in  permanent 
pastures,  75;  western  liroit  of,  76,  77;  an- 
alyses of  at  different  stages  of  growth, 
79;  as  a  cleaning  crop,  93;  place  in  feed- 
ing rations,  98,  106;  how  used  to  balance 
rations.  103, 1C6;  their  use  in  connection 
with  corn  stalks,  103,  104;  use  in  combi- 
nation with  straw,  105,  106;  use  in  com- 
bination with  ordinary  farm  fee3  stuffs, 

fertilizers,  144;  necessary  to  correct  the 
evils  of  continued  grain  cropping,  151; 
essent  al  to  a  correct  system  of  agricul- 
tu~e,  152;  western  range  of,  154. 

Clover  Seed— Conditions  of  germination, 
19;  depth  of  covering  required,  19,  22; 
surface-sown  on  winter  wheat,  how  cov- 
ered, 20;  different  depths,  Iowa  Exper  - 
ment  Station  report,  22;  sown  on  spring 
grains,  22;  yield  per  acre,  27;  insect  ene- 
mies of,  121;  management  of  crop,  125, 
126. 

Clover-seed  Caterpillar— Life  History  of, 
131, 132;  remedies  for,  132;  parasites  of, 
132. 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


Clover-seed  Midge— Illustrations  of,  127, 
128;  history  of,  128;  description  of,  128, 
129;  methods  of  combating,  129,  139;  ex- 
ported to  England  in  seed,  130;  parasites 
of,  130, 131. 
Clover  sickness,  73. 

Commercial  fertilizers,  annual  cost  of  in 
Connecticut,  144. 

Comstock,  Prof ,  report  on  clover-stem 
borer,  111. 

Cook,  Prof.— Description  of  clover-stem 
borer,  111;  report  on  clover-leaf  beetle, 
111,  112;  description  of  clover-hay  worm, 
115;  experiment  on  ferti'ization  of  clo- 
ver, 122. 

Corn,  why  it  succeeds  best  on  clover  sod, 
74. 

Corn  land,  limit  of  reached,  148. 

Corn-r^ot  worm,  opera  ions  of,  92. 

Corn-surp'us  states,  153,  154. 

Crimson  Clover— Its  distribution,  11,  15; 
habit  of  gnwth,  56:  yield  of  hay  per 
acre,  56;  where  profitable,  56,  58;  illus- 
tration of,  57;  amount  of  seed  required 
per  acre,  58. 

Darwin,  Charles,  experiment  on  pollina- 

I    tion  of  clovers,  122. 

Digestible  nutrients  in  non-leguminous 
grains  and  fodders,  102;  in  clovers  and 
other  legumes,  102. 

Dodder— Clover,  117,  120;  in  clover  seed, 
119;  districts  infested  with,  123;  varieties 
of,  120;  new  variety  attacking  clover, 
120:  illustration,  118. 

Farmers— Modern,  peculiar  ad  vantages  of , 
150;  peculiar  position  in  the  West,  150, 
151. 

Feeding  Rations— Elementary  principles 
relating  to,  98,  99, 100;  examples  of  -bal- 
anced rations,  99,  100;  table  for  calculat- 
ing, 101;  various  uses  of  clover  in,  1C4, 
105, 106:  use  of  alfalfa  in,  106. 

Fertility— Exhaustion  of,  9">:  essential  ele- 
ments of,  17, 18,  91 ;  how  readily  exhaust- 
ed, 74. 

Flax,  ancient  reputation  RS  a  soil  robber,  4. 

Fungus,  violet  root,  116, 117. 

Geary,  George,  experiment  in  deep  cover- 
ing of  clover,  23,  24. 

Georgeson,  Prof.  C.  C.,  on  alfalfa  without 
irrigation,  36,  40. 

German  feeding  tables,  101. 

Grasses— Definition  of,  3;  tame,  with  and 
without  a  nurse  cro^,  76;  for  wet  lands, 
77,  78;  young,  furnish  a  balanced  ration, 
155. 

Grass  Mixtures  — For  fertility  alone,  71; 
for  short  rotations,  72;  for  sowing  with 
spring  grains,  74;  for  permanent  pas- 
tures, 74;  for  sowing  on  wild  prairie,  75. 

Hay  caps,  use  in  hay  making,  80. 

Hay  shed,  cost  of,  85. 

Hellriegel,  Prof.,  experiment  with  the  le- 
gumes, 134,  138. 

Honey  bees  as  fer  ilizers  for  red  and  mam- 
moth clovers,  123. 

Ingersoll,  Prof.  C.  L.,  on  alfalfa  under 
irrigation,  41,44. 

Insect  Pests— Working  on  clover,  I0r,  116: 
number  of,  working  on  clover,  107;  clo- 
ver-leaf midge,  107, 1C8;  clover- root  bo^er, 
108, 109;  ilavescen*  clover  weevil,  109,  111; 
clover-stem  borer,  111;  clover-'eaf  beetle, 
111,  113;  clover-leaf  hopper,  113,  J14; 
clover-hay  worm,  114,  115. 


Insects  as  pollinators  of  clover,  121,  123. 
Iowa    Experiment    Station,    experime  I 

with  clover  seed,  22. 

Japan  Clover— Its  distribution,  11;  history 
of,  58;  the  soil  renovator  of  the  South, 
58;  climatic  range,  58;  its  value  to  the 
Southern  farmer,  58,  60;  illustration  of, 
59. 

Large-headed  Clover— Description  of,  61,. 
62;  climatic  range  of,  61,  62;  illustration 
of,  65. 

Lawes,  Sir  J.  B.,  investigations  of  tuber- 
cles on  roots  of  legumes,  142. 

Legumes— Leading  varieties  of,  3, 10;  num- 
ber of  known  sppcies,  3;  wide  range  of 
usefulne-s,  3;  Virgil  on,  4;  Virgil's  di- 
rections for  sowing,  4:  universal  distri- 
bution, 10;  necessary  to  correct  the  evils 
of  continued  grain  cropping,  151;  essen- 
tial to  a  correct  system  of  agriculture, 
152. 

Lintner,  Prof.— RepTt  on  the  number  of 
clover  pests,  107, 1C8;  on  flavescent  clover 
weevil,  110;  description  of  clover-leaf 
beetle,  112,  113. 

Mammoth  Clover— Its  distribution,  11,  12, 
13;  yield  per  acre,  27;  illustration  of,  29; 
when  to  be  sown  alone,  70,  71;  crop  of 
seed  per  acre,  71 :  in  permanent  pasture, 
74;  management  of  for  seed,  125. 

Nitrogen  — Its  abundance  in  nature,  8; 
sources  of  supply,  9;  it*  function  in  sup- 
porting animal  life,  9,  99;  waste  of  dur- 
ing summer  months,  92:  supplied  by  the 
clovers,  92;  how  obtained  by  clovers, 
133,  13i. 

Oats,  only  commonly  cultivated  cereal 
furnishing  a  balanced  ration,  155. 

Orchard  Grass— When  to  be  sown  with 
clover,  72,  73;  reasons  for  sowing  with 
clover,  73;  orchard  grass  in  permanent 
pasture,  74. 

Osborn,  Prof.— Report  on  flavescent-clo- 
ver  weevil,  110;  life  history  of  clover- 
leaf  hopper,  113,114. 

Pammel,  Prof.— Report  on  clover  rust, 
116;  on  pollination  of  flowers,  121,  123. 

Permanent  Pasture— Relation  of  clovers 
to,  48,  49;  grass  mixtures  for,  74. 

Phosphoric  acid,  not  liable  to  be  washed 
out  of  the  soil  by  rains,  151. 

Plant  life,  five  essentials  of,  17. 

Pollination  of  clovers  by  insects,  121,  123; 
self-nolliua'ion  of  red  clover,  122;  by 
bumble  bees,  122,  125. 

Potish— Its  p'ace  in  animal  economy,  9; 
not  liable  to  be  washed  out  of  the  soil  by 
rains,  151. 

Prairie,  wild,  how  best  seeded  to  tame 
grasses,  75,  76. 

Red  Clover  — Its  distribution,  11,  12,  13; 
how  distinguished  from  mammoth,  11, 
25;  on  what  its  Feed  crop  depends,  12; 
date  of  introduction  into  England,  16; 
early  methods  of  cultivation,  16,  17;  it» 
relation  to  insect  rests,  26;  illustration 
of,  28;  nutritive  value  as  compared  with 
alfalfa,  39;  in  permanent  pasture,  74; 
on  wild  prairie,  75. 

Red  top,  in  permanent  pasture,  74.    4 

Riley,  Prof.— Report  on  clover-root  borer, 
108, 109;  report  on  flavescent-clover  wee- 
vil, 110. 

Rotations— Distinct  features   of,  92,  93; 


CLOVER  CULTURE. 


Camples  of,  94,  96;  short,  94;  three  years, 
94;  four  years,  94,  85;  fix  years,  95;  west 
of  the  Missouri,  95,96;  lor  Minnesota, 
96;  for  potato  growers,  96,  97. 

Running  Buffalo  Clover— Description  of, 
62,  63;  climatic  range  of,  63;  illustration 
of,  67. 

Sanborn,  Prof.,  on  spontaneous  combus- 
tion, 85,  86. 

Semi-arid  region,  approximately  defined, 
35,36. 

Sloughs,  how  best  seeded  to  alsike,  77,  78. 

Soil  robbers,  operations  of,  148,  149. 

Soils  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  states 
compared,  145, 146;  none  inexhaustible, 
247. 

Soy  bean,  a  substitute  for  clovers.  96. 

Spontaneous  combustion  of  clover  hay,  85, 
90;  Prof.  Sanboru  on,  86,  87;  letter  on, 
from  H.  R.  Learning,  86;  instance  of,  87; 
charcoal  from, described,  87;  J.W.  Bopp's 
report  on  fifty  cases  of,  88;  in  Illinois, 
88;  Prof.  Burrell's  conclusions  on,  88, 
89,  90. 

Straw  in  combination  with  clover,  15,  If 6. 

Sweet  Clover— Distribution  of,  11;  habit  of 
growth,  54;  where  valuable  for  forage, 
54;  value  as  bee  p°sture,  54;  illustration 
of,  55. 

Tedder — Use  of  in  curing  clover  hay,  80; 
indispensabl^  to  secure  the  best  quality, 
82;  how  to  use  it  to  be^t  advantage,  83; 
failure  to  use  it  a  frequent  cause  of 
spontaneous  combustion,  85. 

Timothy,  in  permanent  pasture,  74. 

Trifolium  Carolinanum— Description  of, 
63;  climatic  range,  63;  illustration  of,  68. 

Trifolium  fucatum— Description  of,  61; 
illustration  of,  64. 

Trifolium  involucratnm — Description  of, 
62:  climatic  range  of,  62;  illustration  of, 


Trifolium  megacephalum — Description  of, 

61.  62;  climatic  range  of,  62;  illustration 
of,  65. 

Trifolium   stoloniferum — Description  of, 

62,  63;  climatic  range,  63;  illustration  of, 
67. 

Tubercles— The  means  by  which  clover? 
acquire  nitrogen,  133;  description  of, 
134;  connection  between  their  number 
and  the  size  and  vigor  of  plants,  134; 
relation  to  fer'ility  of  soil,  134, 135;  Hell- 
riegel'B  elaborate  expeiiments  therewith, 
1S4, 135,  136;  illustration  and  description 
of,  138,  139, 140;  Prof.  O.  W.  Atwater  s  in- 
vestigations in  relation  thereto,  140, 141, 
142;  investigations  of  Sir  J.  B.  Lawes  and 
Dr.  Gilbert,  142;  the  theory  of  as  an  expla- 
nation of  previously  known  facts  in  rela- 
tion to  clover  culture.  142,  143;  affords  a 
rational  explanation  of  an  agricultural 
paradox,  145. 

"Wfy  Out"— Must  provide  for  retaining 
and  restoring  soil  fertility,  lf-2:  must  be 
FOWU  with  legumes,  152;  must  enable 
farmers  to  condense  freights,  153;  must 
enable  the  farmer  to  economize  carbona- 
ceous foods,  154.  155,  156. 

Webster,  Prof.,  description  of  clover-hay 
worm.  115,  116. 

Wet  lands,  how  best  seeded  to  alsike  clo- 
ver, 77,  78. 

White  Clover— Its  distribution,  11, 13, 14; 
its  relation  to  permanent  pasture,  45,  47, 
48,  49;  wherei  it  differs  from  red  and 
mammoth  clover,  45, 46;  method  of  seed- 
ing, 46:  at>h  constituents  compared  with 
those  of  red  clover,  46;  origin  of,  46,  47; 
its  peculiar  relation  to  blue  grass,  46,  47; 
its  disadvantages,  47,  48;  depth  of  cover- 
ing necessary,  49;  on  wild  prairie,  75;  in 


permanent  pasture,  74. 
Wolff' s  feeding  standards,  101. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

Common  red  clover 28 

Mammoth  clover 29 

Alfalfa 13 

Alsike 50 

Sweet  clover 55 

Crimson  clover 57 

Japan  clover 59 

Trifolium  fucatum 64 

Larg-e-headed  clover 65 

Trifolium  involucratum . .   66 

Buffalo  clover 67 

Southern  clover . .  .68 


PAGE. 

Clover-leaf  midge 108 

Clover-root  borer 109 

Clover-stem  borer Ill 

Clover-leaf  beetle   112 

Clover-leaf  hopper 114 

Clover-hay  worm 115 

Clover  dodder 118 

Red  clover  blossom 119 

Clover-seed  midge .  . .  127,  128 
Clover-seed  caterpillar  .  .  131 
Tubercle  on  roots  of  the 

lupine 139 


The  publishers  of  the  Homestead,  the 
weekly  twenty-four  page  agricultural  paper 
of  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  edited  by  a  practical 
farmer,  will  send  a  few  sample  copies,  FREE 
OF  CHARGE,  to  every  farmer  not  already 
a  subscriber,  who  will  send  his  name  and 
address,  plainly  written  on  a  postal  card,  to 
the  Homestead  Co.,  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  The 
copies  will  be  ABSOLUTELY  FREE,  and 
will  be  sent  to  any  farmer  to  enable  him  to 
judge  for  himself  of  the  merits  of  the  Home- 
stead as  a  paper  devoted  to  his  special  inter- 
ests. 


THE  BEST  CLOVER  SEED. 

WE  FKLL,  THE 

VERY    BEST    IOWA    GROWN   CLOVER  SEED, 

RE-CLEANED  and  free  from  foul  »eeis.  This  kind  of  se«>d  Is  worth  a  great  deal  more  to  the- 
farmer  than  ordinary  need,  as  when  he  sowa  he  may  know  he  will  not  harvest  a  crop  of 
weeds.  We  know  from  rompaiinon  that  our  standard  of  purity  Is  higher  than  most  other 
firms,  and  our  price,  quality  considered,  is  lowar.  Not  only  Is  this  true  of  our  clover  seeds, 
but  In  all  other  llne«  quality  Is  the  first  consideration.  We  Issue  a  ver/  tine  catalogue  giving 
descriptions  and  prices  of  what  we  sell.  We  will  send  you  one  tree  of  charge  If  you  ask  for  It. 

IOWA  SEED   CO., 

••(>:;  and  90/S  Walnut  Street.QUes^loineR,  Iowa. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


•934 

JEC     16  U. 

rvcf*     A.   1 

L/ttr      TC     »Vr*W 

LD  21-100m-8,'34 

YC  6069) 


52670? 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


USs 


.: 


' 


